NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Northwest Arkansas continues to have one of the lowest unemployment numbers in the country.
At 6.2 percent in June, this area was one of 60 metropolitan regions with less than 7 percent unemployment, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The bureau compiles figures for 372 metropolitan statistical areas.
June also marked the first year-over-year decline in 26 months, dating to April 2008, when the region reported 3.5 percent unemployment, flat when compared to the prior year.
Despite the good news, the latest report received mixed sentiment.
“While the number of unemployed has decreased slightly, so have the number of employed. The local labor force shrunk by 779 workers from a year ago,” said Kathy Deck, director for the Center for Economic Research and Development at the University of Arkansas.
She said there are still too many folks out of work who are looking for jobs in a shrinking workforce.
Deck expects it will be a few years before the region sees local unemployment numbers shrink to levels enjoyed prior to the start of the recession in late 2007.
Butch Scruggs, director of the Joseph Project, a networking ministry that reaches out to unemployed residents, knows first hand what it feels like to get a pink slip from his employer.
Scruggs spent 13 years as a plant manager for Superior Industries until 2007.
“I really did not know what I wanted to do at that crossroads in my life” Scruggs said.
After a soul-searching time on his knees, Scruggs said he landed on both feet and joined Work Matters, a local nonprofit group headed by David Roth.
“I volunteered for six months and David and I began talking about the need to help the growing number of unemployed folks in our immediate area. In October 2008 the Joseph Project was born,” Scruggs said.
He urges others who now have the time to volunteer to do so because those efforts can often provide valuable connections in a job search.
“We have seen some 3,000 people come through our doors. We average about 50 to 60 people per week and have helped more than 100 find work in this difficult economy,” Scruggs said.
Scott Seal was among those job seekers who regularly attended the Joseph Project after he lost his job as an IT manager at a local manufacturer 14 months ago.
Seal took that opportunity to volunteer at both the Joseph Project and the World Garden in Bentonville, overseen by the Cobblestone Project. The local nonprofit venture grows food to supply Northwest Arkansas soup kitchens.
He said volunteering allowed him the opportunity to reflect and evaluate his life’s goals.
Seal was visibly absent from the Joseph Project’s last two Wednesday meetings, because he landed a job with a major employer in the region. He made the connection during his volunteer efforts.
“We just try and help people plug in where they can. We offer a variety of services and tools to help them with their job search, but mostly we put them in touch with other people. More than not, finding work in this difficult climate is about who you know,” Scruggs said.
Residents who had unemployment benefits interrupted because of a funding lapse can expect those payments to hit their mailboxes this next week, according to Kimberly Friedman, spokeswoman with the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services.
Friedman said the recent benefit extension by Congress allows Arkansas recipients up to 47 weeks of extended benefits distributed in three tiers. This is after they have exhausted the normal 26 weeks paid for through employer insurance.
“Arkansas does not qualify for the full 99 weeks of federal assistance because the state’s unemployment rate is below the threshold to trigger additional benefits beyond 73 weeks,” Friedman said.