Ark. unemployment rate remains unchanged at 7.8 percent in April; national rate 9.9 percent

Ark. unemployment rate unchanged at 7.8 percent

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas’ unemployment remained unchanged at 7.8 percent last month, with an increase in manufacturing jobs offsetting a drop in professional and business jobs.

The Arkansas Department of Workforce Services said Friday the state’s unemployment rate was more than 2 percentage points less than the national rate of 9.9 percent.

Manufacturing jobs in Arkansas increased by 2,600 from March to April, and the leisure and hospitality sector gained 2,500 jobs — most of them seasonal, the workforce agency said in a news release.

Professional and business services lost 1,600 jobs last month, including jobs in accounting, law offices and engineering firms. Government jobs dropped by 1,400, but 1,100 of those were temporary Census jobs.

Year-to-year comparisons show non-farm payroll jobs in Arkansas declined by 15,500 from April 2009 to last month, the agency said. Most of that decline, about 12,500 jobs, occurred in the trade, transportation and utilities sectors of the economy.

Jobs in the manufacturing sector dropped by 2,900 from year to year, the agency said, while the professional and business services sector showed a decline of 1,500 jobs.

Sectors showing job increases from last year to this year, the agency said, were educational and health services, up by 1,800 jobs, and government, up by 1,300 jobs.

The unemployment rate among minorities in March — the latest month for which figures are available — was more than double the rate for white workers, the agency said. Joblessness among whites in March was 6.4 percent while for minority workers unemployment stood at 14.5 percent. Both figures were 2 percentage points or more below the national rates of unemployment for whites and minorities.