What follows over the next 550-ish words is a look at job creation numbers and economic data related to Northwest Arkansas and its relative success.
Again?
Yes. But …
Some of what the Arkansas Policy Foundation recently shared with us will seem familiar. What makes the Policy Foundation’s numbers worth a look here is how complete the information is, compared to what generally gets cited. Often the data we report comes in monthly or quarterly chunks. That’s fine, but it doesn’t necessarily provide the entire picture of how the region is doing during a full period of economic expansion.
Forgive the rough analogy, but what the quarterly data provide is a pin drop on Google Earth. What we have here is the entire landscape after zooming out to June 2009.
Economists think in terms of a “business cycle,” which is marked by either economic expansion or recession/contraction. Per the National Bureau of Economic Research there have been 33 business cycles since 1854, including 11 cycles from 1945 to 2009.
Between June 2009 and January 2014, the Policy Foundation took a look at the monthly data gathered by the folks at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. What those numbers tell us is that Northwest Arkansas isn’t just performing well against its peers within our borders, but also outperforming the country as a whole in three segments in particular.
Job growth in the region for the nearly five-year period was at 7.7 percent, compared to 5.0 percent for the United States. That’s fine. Where it gets impressive is when looking at jobs in trade, transportation and utilities (think Wal-Mart and its vendors); professional and business services (think white-collar types); and education and health services (all those medical clinics referenced here a few weeks ago).
No sector of employment in the region grew at the rate of professional and businesses services at 30.7 percent. Nationally, the number was 14.9 percent.
Trade, transportation and utilities jobs - the largest employment segment in Northwest Arkansas and the state - were up 10.3 percent since June 2009. This is more than double the national growth of 5.3 percent in the sector. Wholesale trade employment, the Policy Foundation notes, was up 19.5 percent in the region, compared to 4.3 percent nationwide.
Education and health services employment expanded at a rate of 19.5 percent, compared to 8.8 percent in the United States.
There were declines. Mining, logging and construction; manufacturing; information, financial activities; and other services all saw drops. Per capita income in Northwest Arkansas remains less than 100 percent of national average. Only Pulaski and Union counties are at 100 percent, by the way.
Still, the region is to be applauded. Don’t take my word for it. Hear it from Greg Kaza, whose Little Rock-based organization focuses on how to help the state grow through tax policy and education reform.
“Northwest Arkansas is really something the entire state and those responsible for marketing the state should be talking about,” Kaza said. “When you talk about politics on a worldwide level, you can talk about an Arkansan that became president. We can offer plenty of examples of success in athletics or music or arts.
“When we’re talking commerce, there really are only a handful of counties that have a compelling story that a national or world market would understand. There are two counties [Benton and Washington] that top that list.” If you have a tip, call Chris Bahn at (479) 365-2972 or email him at [email protected]
Business, Pages 73 on 03/30/2014