Arkansas continues to achieve record levels of employment though officials reported Tuesday that statewide unemployment ticked up slightly to 2.7% in August. That’s one-tenth of a percentage point increase from July.
Unemployment in the U.S. climbed as well, moving up to 3.8% in August from 3.5% the previous month.
Arkansas churned ahead with new records in employed workers — adding 895 jobs in the month for a total of 1.35 million — and improved the civilian labor force, which increased by 2,556.
Unemployment rose for the first time since October 2022, with 1,661 more Arkansans actively looking for work in August. Arkansas’ labor force participation rate was unchanged at 57.7% over the month.
Compared with August 2022, there are 28,229 more employed Arkansans and 9,525 fewer unemployed in the state. The state unemployment rate is down seven-tenths of a percentage point while the labor force participation rate is up one-tenth of a percentage point.