Natural State News

The Arkansas Policy Foundation executive director said Arkansas is trailing nationally in job creation rates but there is an opportunity to improve upon this rate with policies in the education sector. 

The jobs creation rate in Arkansas continues to "trail national and border state job creation averages," Greg Kaza, executive director of the Arkansas Policy Foundation, told Natural State News.

Arkansas' 8.7% jobs creation rate is below the U.S. average of 12.1%. It's also behind border states — including Mississippi, 11.8%; Tennessee, 11.6%; Missouri, 9.9% and Texas, 9.6% — in jobs creation since the recession ended in April 2020, as U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows. 

Kaza says that education is key to increasing that number and getting proficient workers. 

"The education system, in particular, is important to achieving a skilled work force. Policymakers should advance measures that increase competition and choice within the educational sector," Kaza said. 

Arkansas announced that its unemployment rate slightly improved to 4.3% in the month of July after holding steady at 4.4% for the previous three months. This is more than a whole point lower than the national average, according to the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services. 

The Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported that the State's general-revenue surpassed expectations by 9.4%, or an extra $51.6 million.

Not only did general revenue from taxes exceed forecasts, but individual income did as well, according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. 

Kaza said in Talk Business and Politics that the nation's recovery was "the shortest recession" and that its end had implication for Arkansas, such as a decline in unemployment.

The total general revenue for July was $166.5 million, or 21.7%, less than during the same month in 2020, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported. The Department of Finance and Administration reported this figure in its monthly revenue report.

There is some hope in recovery, according to statistics. 

In July, the two largest sources of general revenue, which are individual income and sales and use taxes, were greater than forecasted, according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.