Northwest Arkansas' Unemployment Hits 3.9 Percent

Northwest Arkansas' unemployment rate dropped below 4 percent in October for the first time since October 2008.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent in October for Northwest Arkansas' metropolitan statistical area. The area includes Washington, Benton and Madison counties in Arkansas and McDonald County, Mo.

"It's a number reminiscent of the boom times, when 3.9 percent was a number we hit regularly," said Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas.

Northwest Arkansas's unemployment hit its lowest mark at 2.2 percent in October 2001.

October's unemployment rate was 5.1 percent statewide and 5.5 percent nationwide.

"When the country has a rate of 6 percent or lower, Northwest Arkansas tends to have a rate of 4 percent or lower," Deck said. "It points to a good economy that is clicking along."

One aspect that has changed since prerecession days is where the job growth is located, Deck said. The recession ran from December 2007 to June 2009. Jobs in businesses related to trade, transportation and utilities account for 21 percent of the area's total employment, but shed 1,600 jobs in October from a year earlier. Half of those jobs were lost in the transportation industry.

Northwest Arkansas also bucked a traditional trend by losing 100 retail jobs between September and October when retailers typically start to build holiday employment, Deck said.

Chris Muoio, an economist with Auction.com Research, said growth in e-commerce is impacting national retail employment growth. He said temporary employment services remains a top-performing job area nationally.

Jay Graves, president of The Right Solutions Professional, said business has been strong since the Tontitown-based staffing service started this summer. The business is a division of The Right Solutions, a health care staffing company that started nearly 20 years ago.

"We were using some other companies to help us fill some in-house jobs and the placements were hit and miss," he said. "We started doing placement in-house, and it has grown from there."

The business places employees primarily in clerical, accounting and professional staff positions. The Right Solutions Professional has about 50 placed in the local work force, Graves said.

The company uses personality testing to make employer-employee matches. Graves said some businesses use the firm as a human resource department to find permanent employees.

One change he is seeing in the job placement field is fewer employers willing to do on-the-job training.

"They want skilled people from the start," he said. "People should keep their skills updated and take classes if they need to."