Arkansas’ unemployment rate rose one-tenth of a percentage point from December to 7.2 percent in January, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Monday.
The slight increase in the unemployment rate is statistically insignificant. The statistical margin of error is 0.9 percentage point, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Dallas.
Nationally, the unemployment rate was 7.9 percent in January, up from 7.8 percent in December.
Half of the states recorded unemployment rate increases, eight had declines and 17 had no change.
North Dakota had the lowest unemployment rate among states at 3.3 percent in January, followed by Nebraska at 3.8 percent, South Dakota at 4.4 percent, Vermont at 4.7 percent and Wyoming at 4.9 percent.
California and Rhode Island had the highest unemployment rates at 9.8 percent each, followed by Nevada at 9.7 percent and New Jersey and North Carolina at 9.5 percent each.
Arkansas’ civilian labor force lost 23,200 jobs from January 2012 to January this year.
One reason is because of the increase in baby boomers retiring, said Michael Pakko, chief economist at the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Also, Arkansas’ population growth slowed last year, Pakko said.
“Generally speaking, people are quick to attribute the decline in the labor force to people being discouraged and no longer looking for jobs,” Pakko said. “That is a concern that it is part of what underlies the statistics, but it is hard to disentangle all the different changes.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics didn’t release January unemployment data until Monday because it took time to revise employment information for the past two years. The revisions showed that the number of nonfarm jobs in Arkansas in 2011 and 2012 was 10,000 higher than previously estimated.
The monthly unemployment rates were more static than first estimated, sitting at 7.3 percent for seven months of the year.
The revisions showed government jobs have declined in each of the past two years,said John Shelnutt, the administrator for economic analysis and tax research for the state’s Department of Finance and Administration.
“You would think they would be stable, but they are not,” Shelnutt said.
The federal government had a major decline in jobs in 2011 and further decline in 2012, Shelnutt said.
The state government was down slightly last year, he said.
Local governments lost jobs in 2010, 2011 and 2012, partly because of reductions in tax collections and property valuations, Shelnutt said.
“The key thing is that they rely on sales tax and they are not getting the revenue growing the way it was five or 10 years ago,” Shelnutt said.
Statistics for the state’s metropolitan areas also underwent revisions.
The new numbers showed that Fort Smith’s economy was stronger than originally thought, said Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Central Arkansas’ economy also was better than first thought, she said.
The Northwest Arkansas economy, which was originally reported to be doing well, saw little revision, which was good, Deck said.
Among all facets of the state economy, including public and private, six sectors in Arkansas had a drop in jobs in the 12-month period and five sectors reported gains. Government had a net loss of 300 jobs.
“The Arkansas economy continues to look different from the national economy,” Deck said. “The national economy pretty much is growing everywhere in a year-over-year basis, everywhere except in government. So all of the private sectors show year-over-year improvement. In Arkansas, you don’t have that.”
Manufacturing lost 2,700 jobs in January.
The mining and logging sector lost 1,600 jobs in January, as low natural gas prices have lingered for a long time, Deck said.
The trade, transportation and utilities sector, which includes retail trade, added 8,300 jobs over the 12-month period.
“That sector is so important for the state,” Deck said.
Business, Pages 23 on 03/19/2013