People wait in line to file for unemployment Friday, May 22, 2020, at the Little Rock office of the state Division of Workforce Services. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford) Let us read it for you. Listen now. Your browser does not support the audio element.
Arkansas' seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained steady at 3.5% in April as the state's employment level remained at a record high. National unemployment stood at 4.2% in April, also unchanged from March.
"It's kind of a mixed report. It hinted at some ongoing weakness in the sense that things weren't changed very much," Michael Pakko, the Chief Economist and State Economic Forecaster at the Arkansas Economic Development Institute, said.
The state's civilian labor force, made up of the sum of employed and unemployed individuals, rose by 1,519 to 1,422,616 in April. A total of 1,406 more Arkansans were employed and 113 additional unemployed Arkansans were looking for work, according to the report.
There were 14,459 more Arkansans employed last month than in April 2024. The state's unemployment rate was up three-tenths of a percentage point year over year.
The state's labor force participation rate remained steady at 58.4%. Ten "major industry sectors" posted increases in April, according to a news release from the state Department of Commerce. The largest gains were in Professional and Business Services and Leisure and Hospitality, which grew by 2,600 and 2,100 jobs respectively.
According to Pakko, the seasonally adjusted numbers for the Leisure and Hospitality sector showed a decline of 1,800. He said this decline could be attributed to the slow growth of the U.S. economy. That's down from a 2.8% growth during the second quarter of 2024.
The slowdown comes amid sweeping tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump. Walmart Inc. executives told investors earlier this month that tariffs will most likely raise prices on produce
Nonfarm payroll jobs rose by 7,800 in April. That's year-over-year job growth of 19,100 nonfarm payroll jobs. The largest gains since April 2024 were in the Private Education and Health Services sector.
Pakko said April's report is "what we would expect in a slow but growing economy."
Washington, D.C., reported the highest unemployment rate in the country in April at 5.8%. South Dakota had the lowest at 1.8%. There were no significant changes in unemployment rates for 45 states.
Pakko said that the state's unemployment rate could go above 4% by the end of this year or early next year as a result of the Federal Reserve's decision not to cut interest rates.
The Federal Reserve is tasked with dual mandate: to promote maximum employment and maintain stable prices. This means that the central bank aims to keep the unemployment rate as low as possible while also preventing excessive inflation or deflation, which it primarily achieves by tweaking interest rates.
Recently, the Fed has kept interest rates elevated to bring down inflation, which currently stands at about 2.3%, slightly higher than the bank's goal of 2%.
"If it creeps up over 4%, that's not the end of the world," Pakko said. "That's not a debilitating level for unemployment to be at."
Earlier this month, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said tariff moves from the Trump administration could lead to more frequent and potentially more persistent supply shocks, which could present challenges for central banks and the economy at large.
Lucas Dufalla is a Report for America Corps member. Financial support for this coverage came from the Community Journalism Project.