While two Arkansas economists don't expect state unemployment to fall much further, the effect of historically low jobless levels could put workers at an advantage when seeking a new job or higher wages. read more >
Arkansas' February unemployment rate is 4.2 percent, down from 4.4. percent in January and 5.6 percent in the same month last year, according to report Friday from the state Department of Workforce Services. read more >
An economic development resource to help navigate the leadership of the largest Arkansas companies or institutions. read more >
Arkansas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a percentage point from December to 4.4 percent in January, according to a report Monday by the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services. read more >
Unemployment in Arkansas’ metropolitan areas has fallen significantly in the last year, notes Michael Pakko, an economist at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. read more >
The eight metropolitan areas of Arkansas reported increases in local area personal income in 2014, with growth ranging from 1.6 percent in Pine Bluff to 4.1 percent in Fort Smith. read more >
Although Arkansas' economic recovery has lagged the rest of country since the recession, growth here has increased over the last couple of years. read more >
A report Friday by the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services, shows Arkansas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped two-tenths of a percentage point, from 5.6 percent in July to 5.4 percent in August. read more >
In preparation for a recent presentation to the Association of Arkansas Development Organizations, I gathered a set of statistics on demographics and economic development for Arkansas’ 75 counties. Mapping the results yielded some interesting patterns, although in many cases not terribly surprising. read more >
Economist Michael Pakko says June snapped a three-month streak of growth among the number unemployed Arkansans. read more >
Michael R. Pakko took on the job of chief economist and state economic forecaster position at the Institute for Economic Advancement at UALR in August 2009. read more >
Arkansas' unemployment rate ticked up one-tenth of percentage point from March, coming in at 5.7 percent in April, according to a report Wednesday by the state Department of Workforce Servics. read more >
As the unemployment rate in Arkansas is falling the size of the labor force is increasing, as these charts by Michael Pakko, the state’s economic forecaster, show. read more >
Home sales in Arkansas rose 4.5 percent last year compared with 2013, according to a report from the Arkansas Realtors Association. read more >
Arkansas’ leading economists say the state should have an improved economy next year. One of the highlights: the unemployment rate is expected to continue to drop to 5.5 percent by the end of 2015 and then slip to 5.3 percent in 2016. read more >
With the passage of ballot initiative No. 4, the minimum wage in Arkansas will increase in three steps to $8.50 per hour in 2017, $1.25 above the current federal minimum, making Arkansas one of many states to increase the minimum wage above the federally mandated level. read more >
The unemployment rate in Arkansas fell in June to 6.2 percent, but the number of people employed “continues to be a source of concern,” state economic forecaster Michael Pakko noted recently. read more >
A government report earlier this month on gross domestic product included revised figures that affected data on Arkansas’ growth rate back to 1997, according to Michael Pakko, the state economic forecaster. read more >
Home prices in Arkansas rose 0.2 percent in 2013, according to data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The rate for the United States as a whole was 7.8 percent. read more >
The most commonly cited measure of labor market conditions is the unemployment rate, defined as the ratio of number of employed to number of labor force participants. But the unemployment rate expresses itself as a fraction of the labor force, it provides an incomplete picture, and it can give misleading signals. During the recent recession and recovery, for example, labor force participation has fallen sharply — and unlike unemployment rates, participation rates have shown little sign of recovery. read more >
