ALL-TIME
RECORD LOW UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
"The drop in the state's
unemployment rate to a record low is consistent with the duration of the
economic expansion, which entered a record 11th year this month." Policy
Foundation, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette,
July 20, 20191
(August 2019) Arkansas' unemployment
rate hit consecutive all-time record lows this Summer,
declining to 3.5% in June and 3.4% in July, preliminary jobs data from the
state Department of Workforce Services (ADWS) shows.2
The Arkansas unemployment rate was lower
than the U.S. rate both months.3
Record
Economic Expansion
The U.S. economy started an expansion in
June 2009 when the Great Recession ended, the National Bureau of Economic
Research in Cambridge explained in a 2010 research memo.4 The current expansion set a record in July
when it entered its 11th year of growth.
The previous record (10 years) occurred between March 1991 and March
2001, according to the NBER's business cycle chronology.5
Record
Number Employed in Arkansas
There were 1,275,300 Arkansans employed
in June, an all-time record, U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics records show.6 By contrast, only 1,150,000 Arkansans were
employed in February 2010 when payroll employment reached a trough this cycle.
The
largest subsector gains in July--800 new jobs--occurred in the professional, scientific and technical jobs
component. The Policy Foundation noted
the subsector bears watching as Arkansas works to diversify this
knowledge-based part of its economy.7
-- Greg Kaza
1 "Jobless rate in state
falls to 3.5%, lowest on record." Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette. July 20, 2019
2 http://www.discover.arkansas.gov/Portals/194/Publications/Press%20Release/2019/Press%20Release-%20July%202019.pdf?ver=2019-08-16-082405-110
3 https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000
4
https://www.nber.org/cycles/sept2010.html
5
https://www.nber.org/cycles.html
6
https://www.bls.gov/sae/#data
7 "Unemployment rate in state dips to 3.4%. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. August 17, 2019