The Little Rock metropolitan area ranks next-to last among 11 comparable regional metropolitan areas in 14 economic and quality of-life issues, a University of Arkansas at Little Rock economist said Thursday.
If Little Rock had grown at the same rate as the national economy since 2010, Little Rock would have added more than 13,200 jobs, said Greg Hamilton, a senior economist at UALR.
Instead, Little Rock has generated almost 6,000 jobs since 2010, Hamilton said.
“Part of the reason we lost those additional jobs was because of the industry mix of the economy [in Little Rock],” Hamilton said. “And the other reason was because of the competitiveness of the economy.”
Hamilton presented the information at the first State of the Region Report Card, an event sponsored by UALR’s Institute for Economic Advancement and the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce. The meeting was held at the Jack Stephens Center on the UALR campus.
Oklahoma City was judged the best-performing metropolitan area in an eight-state region. The other metropolitan areas in the report were Tulsa; Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis in Tennessee; Springfield, Mo.; Greensboro, N.C.; Baton Rouge; Columbia, S.C.; and Jackson, Miss. Other metropolitan areas in Arkansas were not included in the primary research.
Oklahoma City finished first in five of the 14 individual categories. Tulsa, which was second overall in the study, was first in three others.
Memphis finished last in the UALR study.
The highest scores Little Rock received were second place in the volatility of the unemployment rate and third place in median real-estate taxes paid.
Little Rock finished 11th in the competitiveness of its industries and in the mix of its industries and was 10th in the number of housing permits issued.
Hamilton and other UALR economists judged the cities on three major criteria: the structure of the economies, including how competitive and diversified they are; how well the cities’ economies performed; and the cities’ quality of life, including air quality, travel time to work, real-estate taxes, median home prices and a comparison of prices for products.
The study was based on data from 2010 to 2012.
Little Rock was hurt by its concentration in relatively stable industries, Hamilton said. About a third of Little Rock’s jobs are in two areas - the health-care and social-assistance sector and government.
“Little Rock has such a stable industrial base in the public sector and health care that it gives a stability to the economy but it doesn’t make it such a dynamic place in terms of job creation,” Hamilton said.
Metropolitan areas that did well in the study - such as Tulsa and Oklahoma City - excelled in having industries that are leading job creators, Hamilton said.
For example, Tulsa had more than five times the number of jobs in mining, oil and gas extraction as Little Rock did in 2010-12. Almost 12 percent of Tulsa’s jobs are in manufacturing; only about 6 percent of Little Rock’s jobs are in that sector. Both sectors have shown strong growth nationally since 2010.
Both Tulsa and Oklahoma City, as well as the state of Oklahoma, have benefited significantly from the oil industry, said Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
“The importance of the energy sector in Oklahoma filters through every other sector, whether it’s transportation or professional things or everything else,” Deck said.
Little Rock primarily has industries that lag the nation in job creation, Hamilton said.
To improve its position, Little Rock needs to improve its occupational mix, such as seeking knowledge-based businesses and jobs, Hamilton said. That is an area where Arkansas already is focused.
Little Rock also needs to be sure its labor force will attract high-growth, high value-added industries, Deck said.
“That means investing in education and in training and making sure your physical infrastructure, whether it’s roads or high-speed [Internet] access or water treatment, is ready for those industries as well,” Deck said.
Business, Pages 31 on 05/31/2013