(September 2020) Arkansas’ job creation rate topped 21 states in the national expansion that started in June 2009 and ended earlier this year in February,1 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)2 records show. Arkansas’ 10.4% growthrate in the period3 topped four states each in the Southeast, New England, Great Lakes and Midwest, and Plains; three in the West; and two in the Mid-Atlantic.

The finding is noteworthy because some observers still relegate Arkansas to 48th or 49th in national economic rankings.

Arkansas (10.4%) topped the following states in jobs growth in the period:

Southeast

Alabama (9.7%), Mississippi (6.1%), Louisiana (5.0%), West Virginia (-0.9%)

New England

Rhode Island (9.9%), Maine (7.0%), Vermont (5.9%), Connecticut (4.4%)

Great Lakes and Midwest

Wisconsin (9.5%), Illinois (8.52%), Missouri (8.19%), Iowa (7.2%)

Plains

South Dakota (10.2%) Nebraska (9.4%), Oklahoma (8.59%), Kansas (6.79%)

West

New Mexico (6.86%), Alaska (3.0%), Wyoming (0.7%)

Mid-Atlantic

New Jersey (9.1%), Pennsylvania (8.99%)

Arkansas Jobs Growth In Earlier Expansion

BLS records show Arkansas’ job creation rate (5.21%)4 also topped 22 states in an earlier 21st century expansion (November 2001 to December 2007).

These were Iowa (5.05%), New Hampshire (4.64%), Kentucky (4.53%), West Virginia (3.87%), New York (3.76%),Minnesota (3.66%), Missouri (3.46%),

Wisconsin (3.31%), Kansas (3.24%), Mississippi (3.13%), Indiana (2.94%),

Pennsylvania (2.88%), Maine (2.71%),                                    Rhode Island (2.59%), Vermont

(2.49%), New Jersey (2.10%), Connecticut (1.66%), Louisiana (1.61%), Illinois

(1.06%), Massachusetts (0.48%), Ohio (-1.22%), and Michigan (-5.63%).

— Greg Kaza and Dylan Saettele