Jun 9, 2023 - Business
Northwest Arkansas' unemployment is at all-time low
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The labor market in Northwest Arkansas is tighter than the national average, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- The 1.8% rate is not seasonally adjusted.
- The unemployment rate has declined for four months straight to a record low, according to Mervin Jebaraj, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas.
The big picture: 339,000 jobs were added in the U.S. during May, while the unemployment rate rose from a seasonally adjusted 3.4% to 3.7%, Axios' Courtenay Brown writes.
By the numbers: As of June 6, there were 10,675 job postings in NWA, a spokesperson for the Northwest Arkansas Council told Axios.
- Health care-related professionals are the top need locally, with about 2,500 openings. Those jobs have an annual mean wage of $89,500.
- Management jobs ($109,400), sales ($45,900) and transportation/CDL drivers ($45,000) were Nos. 2-4 among most sought-after occupations.
Jebaraj said the NWA workforce is about 307,000 strong and that the area added about 16,000 jobs in each of the last two years.