Cannabis Legalization: Business Pros and Cons
What the vote for recreational marijuana could mean for business, from the size of the market to its sales and tax potential. read more >
What the vote for recreational marijuana could mean for business, from the size of the market to its sales and tax potential. read more >
The number of job openings per unemployed worker fell below 2.0 for the first time this year. read more >
Just as unemployment fell statewide in October, to 3.7%, unemployment rates in all eight Arkansas metro areas also declined, with rates falling by 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points. read more >
Unemployment of between 3.3%-4% is also expected. read more >
Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield opens its $40 million, 81,000-SF Northwest Arkansas Corporate Center in Springdale, where it expects 300 employees will eventually work. read more >
Michael Pakko says the state could see a return to pre-pandemic employment by the end of 2022 — an outlook that could be affected by a vaccine, more stimulus and new shutdowns. read more >
The U.S. Economic Development Administration awards a $2.5 million grant to the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College to launch the first phase of its STEM Park project. read more >
The Arkansas Economic Development Institute at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has developed an interactive COVID-19 data dashboard that tracks how the pandemic has affected the state socially and economically. read more >
As COVID-19 continues to impact our society, it’s easy for daily business obligations to blind owners to the importance of evaluating their operation in light of the ongoing social and economic challenges the pandemic has created. read more >
The COVID-19 pandemic has delivered a wallop to the country’s economy, but experts interviewed by Arkansas Business don’t expect too much lasting damage. There is a caveat, of course. read more >
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration to create an Arkansas Recovery & Resiliency Plan and develop a history of the economic effects of COVID-19 on the state. read more >
Nonfarm payroll employment in Arkansas rose by 23,700 in June, an increase of 2%, while the national total rose by 3.6%. read more >
Michael Pakko, chief economist and state economic forecaster at the Arkansas Economic Development Institute at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, talks about the state of Arkansas' economy amid COVID-19. read more >
Arkansas Commerce Secretary Mike Preston says the COVID-19 pandemic is an “unprecedented” challenge to the state’s economy, but the state is in a good position to cushion the blow to businesses and employees. read more >
Trade policy has been a “shock” to the economy, and uncertainty over it is rising sharply, Kevin Kliesen of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis said Thursday at the Little Rock Regional Economic Briefing. read more >
Nonfarm payroll employment in Arkansas rose in June in most of the state’s metro areas, particularly in Fayetteville and Jonesboro. read more >
The unemployment rates in most of Arkansas’ metro areas continued to move downward or stay stable in June, with Fayetteville, Jonesboro, Little Rock and Texarkana seeing declines. read more >
Arkansas’ gross domestic product expanded by 2.5% during the first quarter of 2019, the highest quarterly growth rate for the state since the fourth quarter of 2016, Michael Pakko noted recently on his Arkansas Economist blog. read more >
Total personal income in Arkansas jumped at an annual rate of 7.5% in the fourth quarter of 2018, outpacing the U.S. growth rate of 5.2%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. read more >
Wednesday was Arkansas Advanced Energy Day at the state Capitol, as decreed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who marshaled some impressive economic development numbers in his declaration. read more >
