Cynergy Cargo was the first company to expand into Arkansas since the COVID-19 pandemic, taking up a location in Crossett. | Pixabay
Cynergy Cargo was the first company to expand into Arkansas since the COVID-19 pandemic, taking up a location in Crossett. | Pixabay
Arkansas’ unemployment rate dropped slightly to 4.3% in July, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced.
“Our unemployment rate continues to be significantly below the national rate, and the fact that unemployment is now down to 4.3% reflects a growing economy in the state,” the governor said in a statement. “The job opportunities are abundant with virtually every employer in Arkansas needing more workers. The challenge is the number of Arkansans who have not returned to the labor force after they lost a job early in the pandemic. There is a constant need to increase the number of workers in order to keep our economy vibrant.”
In June, the state’s unemployment rate stood at 4.4 % where it had hovered for three months.
“While employers are searching for workers to keep their businesses in operation or to expand, the shortage of workers reflects a hesitancy of some to return to the workforce,” Hutchinson said in July. "This hesitancy should diminish in the coming months as federal stimulus money slows, and our workers transition from training into full employment.”
In May, Arkansas opted out of the $300 weekly unemployment supplement provided by the federal government, according to Natural State News.
“The programs were implemented to assist the unemployed during the pandemic when businesses were laying off employees and jobs were scarce,” Hutchinson said in a statement. “As we emerge from COVID-19, retail and service companies, restaurants, and industry are attempting to return to prepandemic unemployment levels, but employees are as scarce today as jobs were a year ago. The $300 federal supplement helped thousands of Arkansans make it through this tough time, so it served a good purpose. Now we need Arkansans back on the job so that we can get our economy back to full speed.”
The federal program was set to expire in September.
“Continuing these services until the planned expiration date of Sept. 4, 2021 is not necessary and would actually interfere with the ability of employers to fill over 40,000 job vacancies in Arkansas,” the governor wrote in May in a letter to the state’s Division of Workforce Services, WLBT reported.
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