WASHINGTON: For the fourth straight month, the unemployment rate in Pine Bluff declined in April and reached its lowest point this year. According to the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services, the preliminary rate for April was 5.4 percent, down from the 6.1 percent reported in March.
“In the 10 years that I have been here, the numbers were mostly above 10 percent and they didn’t start changing until about a year ago,” said Lou Ann Nisbett, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Alliance for Jefferson County. “Economic development is finally working.”
Nisbett pointed to the work that is being done to construct Highland Pellets in the Jefferson Industrial Park, Southwind Milling and its operations, as well as expansions at Kiswire, Mondi and other industries. She also mentioned ESP (Energy Security Partners), which plans to construct a natural-gas-to-fuel facility in northern Jefferson County. “We are finally able to compete in bringing industries in,” said Nisbett, who credited the three-eights-cent sales tax for economic development approved by Jefferson County voters in 2011.
She also predicted that the expansions and new industries will produce other jobs as suppliers will want to move to the area to be close to those industries, and that will translate into more homes sold, as well as additional commercial construction. “It’s an exciting time,” Nisbett said. “We’ve seen more prospects and more activities that we have seen in a long time.”
Kathy Deck, the director of the Center for Business and Economic Development at the Sam Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, said another factor is that the labor force in Pine Bluff had been shrinking since about 2006 but in the last few months, has shown an increase. Between April 2015 and April 2016, 1,500 jobs were created in Pine Bluff, while unemployment dropped by 1,000, she said.
Deck also said it was “heartening” to see the efforts of so many people and organizations like Simmons Bank who have come together to work for economic development. The unemployed rate for Jefferson County was 4.8 percent in April compared to 5.6 percent in March. Also according to the Department of Workforce Services, there were 17,473 people working in Pine Bluff in April. Statewide, the unemployment rate for April was 3.9 percent, down two-tenths of a point from March. The U.S. rate was 5 percent in April.
