State of the State Mid-Year 2024: Arkansas’ manufacturing sector producing more ‘with fewer workers’

by Michael Tilley (mtilley@talkbusiness.net)

Arkansas’ manufacturing sector accounts for 12% of the state’s total payroll jobs and could add more than 1,000 jobs if recent growth rates continue, according to economist Greg Kaza. Job numbers in the sector remain well below peak employment in February 1995.

Kaza, executive director of the Little Rock-based Arkansas Policy Foundation, said the sector, once the largest jobs sector in the state, still is a big job generator.

“The manufacturing private industry sector continues to make a significant contribution to Arkansas’ economy. One might say, ‘It’s firing on four cylinders with the potential for six.’ In terms of jobs, manufacturing adds nearly one in eight jobs, or 12% of total Arkansas payroll employment, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics records,” Kaza noted in a brief analysis provided to Talk Business & Politics before July numbers were available.

State of the State Mid-Year 2024: Arkansas’ manufacturing sector producing more ‘with fewer workers’

State of the State Mid-Year 2024: Arkansas tourism continues to be a strong industry

by Tina Alvey Dale (tdale@talkbusiness.net)

Arkansas Tourism Director Dalaney Thomas said the state’s 2% tourism tax collections continue to rise with fiscal year 2024 (June 2023-July 2024) closing out at a record $26.363 million, up 5.13% compared with the recent fiscal year.

“Arkansas’ travel industry continues to see growth in large part thanks to the expansion of the state’s marketing footprint and the return of strong business and corporate travel,” Thomas said.

The tax collections are directly allocated toward promotion of the state, and Thomas said those efforts are working.

State of the State Mid-Year 2024: Arkansas tourism continues to be a strong industry

State of the State Mid-Year 2024: Banks enjoying stable interest rates, ready when changes come

by Steve Brawner (BRAWNERSTEVE@MAC.COM)

Arkansas banks have been catching their breath as interest rates have remained stable for a year. Now, they are preparing for future rate changes that might occur. In fact, the Federal Reserve hinted July 31 at a slight rate decrease.

Brad Chambless, CEO of Farmers and Merchants Bank and chairman of the Arkansas Bankers Association, said banks couldn’t respond quickly enough to the Federal Open Market Committee increasing the federal funds rate by 5.25 percentage points over 18 months.

But, the Fed’s keeping the rate steady at about 5.4% since July 27, 2023, has given banks time to adjust their assets and liabilities.

State of the State Mid-Year 2024: Banks enjoying stable interest rates, ready when changes come

State of the State 2024: Manufacturing sector faces uncertainty, continued labor challenges in 2024

by Michael Tilley (mtilley@talkbusiness.net)

Editor’s note: The State of the State series provides reports twice a year on Arkansas’ key economic sectors. The series publishes stories to begin a year and stories in July/August to provide a broad mid-year update on the state’s economy. Link here for the State of the State page and previous stories.

Arkansas’ manufacturing sector ended 2023 with an estimated 163,000 jobs, slightly lower than the 164,000 in December 2022. But the sector saw jobs grow to 165,300 jobs in June, the highest since 166,100 in April 2009.

Manufacturing, once the state’s largest jobs sector, posted record employment of 247,600 in February 1995. The sector fell to a historic low of 150,000 in April 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic emerged.

U.S. manufacturing jobs totaled 12.979 million jobs in January 2024, up 0.3% compared with 12.942 million in January 2023. The U.S. manufacturing sector reached a record of 19.406 million jobs in August 1979.

State of the State 2024: Manufacturing sector faces uncertainty, continued labor challenges in 2024

State of the State 2024: Amid Republican dominance, citizens turn to petitions

by John Brummett (jbrummett@arkansasonline.com)

Editor’s note: The State of the State series provides reports twice a year on Arkansas’ key economic sectors. The series publishes stories to begin a year and stories in July/August to provide a broad mid-year update on the state’s economy. Link here for the State of the State page and previous stories.

The group is “ridiculously diverse,” as former flame-throwing Republican state Rep. Nate Bell, now an iconoclastic independent activist revealing a thoughtful side, puts it.

He’s the person who kind of started it – the drafting committee, that is, for a citizens’ initiative for a constitutional amendment to guarantee freedom of information. The group seeks to enshrine the late Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller’s proud Freedom of Information statute of the late 1960s in the state Constitution. It seeks to protect the people’s right to know from the ruling politicians’ interest in running the government with the convenience of secrecy.

State of the State 2024: Amid Republican dominance, citizens turn to petitions

State of the State 2024: Mixed bag predicted for retail sector in 2024

by Kim Souza (ksouza@talkbusiness.net)

Editor’s note: The State of the State series provides reports twice a year on Arkansas’ key economic sectors. The series publishes stories to begin a year and stories in July/August to provide a broad mid-year update on the state’s economy. Link here for the State of the State page and previous stories.

A U.S. recession never happened in 2023 and retailers managed to post holiday sales growth of 3.8% to $964.4 billion according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). For the full year, NRF reports retail sales increased 3.6% to a record $5.13 trillion.

“Consumer spending was remarkably resilient throughout 2023 and finished the year with a solid pace for the holiday season,” NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said. “Although inflation has been the biggest concern for households, the price of goods eased notably and was helped by a healthy labor market, underscoring a successful holiday season for retailers.”

State of the State 2024: Mixed bag predicted for retail sector in 2024

State of the State 2024: Freight recession might not end until later this year, 2025

by Jeff Della Rosa (JDellaRosa@nwabj.com)

Editor’s note: The State of the State series provides reports twice a year on Arkansas’ key economic sectors. The series publishes stories to begin a year and stories in July/August to provide a broad mid-year update on the state’s economy. Link here for the State of the State page and previous stories.

Executives in the trucking/transportation and logistics industry look forward to a freight volume recovery, but it might be modest and slow, coming in the back half of the year or 2025. The market softness has pressured an industry challenged to cover rising costs.

Shannon Newton, president of the Arkansas Trucking Association, said the economic challenges and uncertainty carriers faced in 2023 eclipsed issues, like shaping regulatory and legislative policy and public image. Carriers focused on remaining in business and maintaining their customers and employees.

State of the State 2024: Freight recession might not end until later this year, 2025

State of the State 2024: Construction sector poised for growth

by George Jared (gjared@talkbusiness.net)

Editor’s note: The State of the State series provides reports twice a year on Arkansas’ key economic sectors. The series publishes stories to begin a year and stories in July/August to provide a broad mid-year update on the state’s economy. Link here for the State of the State page and previous stories.

Hyperinflation, rising interest rates, a weakened economy, supply chain issues and others plagued the construction sector in Arkansas as 2023 opened. Many of those issues started to ease as the year unfolded, according to Nabholz CEO Jake Nabholz.

Also, he told Talk Business & Politics that 2024 will be a year of growth within the construction industry. Nabholz said he hasn’t detected a definitive trend in the state in terms of what types of projects will do better in 2024. He expects that many public, industrial, retail, healthcare and others will all do well this year.

“I think we are all largely encouraged,” he said. “Construction inflation is down … it helps control project costs. It helps these projects stay more stable from a cost perspective.”

State of the State 2024: Construction sector poised for growth

State of the State 2024: Arkansas health care faces challenges

by Steve Brawner (BRAWNERSTEVE@MAC.COM)

Editor’s note: The State of the State series provides reports twice a year on Arkansas’ key economic sectors. The series publishes stories to begin a year and stories in July/August to provide a broad mid-year update on the state’s economy. Link here for the State of the State page and previous stories.

With Arkansas’ Medicaid system still rebalancing after the COVID pandemic and Arkansans ranking near the bottom in health metrics, the state of the state’s health care is challenging.

One of the biggest health-related stories this past year has been Arkansas’ “unwinding” of its Medicaid rolls. During the COVID pandemic, the federal government provided extra money to states provided that they didn’t disenroll recipients throughout the emergency. That restriction ended April 1. While most states opted to abide by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ 14-month-time frame, Arkansas law accelerated its redetermination process over a six-month period.

State of the State 2024: Arkansas health care faces challenges

State of the State 2024: U.S., Arkansas economies could see dip in 2024, recovery in 2025

by Michael Tilley (mtilley@talkbusiness.net)

Editor’s note: The State of the State series provides reports twice a year on Arkansas’ key economic sectors. The series publishes stories to begin a year and stories in July/August to provide a broad mid-year update on the state’s economy. Link here for the State of the State page and previous stories.

The nationwide recession expected in 2023 never materialized, thanks primarily to a stronger-than-expected labor market and consumer spending. The new consensus is that economic growth will continue in 2024 but weaken compared to 2023.

“It looks like we dodged the bullet on the recession that was forecasted by many economists for 2023. In fact, the Arkansas economy had a strong first half — particularly in employment. There have been signs of slower growth in the latter part of the year, and I expect that to continue,” noted Michael Pakko, chief economist and state economic forecaster at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Institute for Economic Advancement. “GDP growth is likely to be slow but positive. For the U.S., a consensus estimate is GDP growth of about 1.5%. It is likely to be less than 1% in Arkansas, given the relative size of our state’s manufacturing sector.”

State of the State 2024: U.S., Arkansas economies could see dip in 2024, recovery in 2025