Staff Report
The Southwest Information Office of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Tuesday released its County Employment and Wages report for Arkansas’s 2017 fourth quarter (October, November, December).
The document shows national rankings of wage levels, wage growth, and employment changes for the three largest counties in Arkansas compared to the total 346 largest counties in the United States. The report also provides December 2017 employment and wage levels for the 72 smaller Arkansas counties (those with employment below 75,000).
Columbia County during last year’s fourth quarter saw average wages of $781 per week – $69 below the state's average of $850 and $328 below the national weekly average of $1,109, according the report. Neighboring Nevada ($706), Hempstead ($719), and Miller ($771) Counties all fell in the same wage range ($700-$799 per week), while Union County ($922) and Calhoun County ($1,034) — the highest small county average weekly earner in the state — surged into the state’s highest bracket of $800 or higher per week. Lafayette County ($668) and Ouachita ($698) County fell into the lowest seen wage range in the area of $600-$699.
No southwestern Arkansas county, however, saw weekly wages in the lowest bracket of $599 per week or less. The state as a whole only had seven counties total in that range.
Montgomery County ($541), located just west of Hot Springs, was the closest geographic neighbor to Columbia County that fell into the floor category. Most of the bottom-tiered counties, including the state’s lowest weekly earner of Newton County ($490), lie in the state’s northern-central region. Marion ($577), Searcy ($514), Stone ($570), Fulton ($589), and Sharp ($580) Counties all sit just east of northwest Arkansas, while Monroe County ($594) is the lone eastern or southeastern county to see such low weekly wages.
All 72 of Arkansas’s smaller counties reported weekly wages below the national average of $1,109 in the fourth quarter of 2017. Among these smaller counties Little River ($929) was just behind Calhoun.
Employment also rose in the three largest counties in Arkansas from December 2016 to December 2017, and Washington County’s 2.6-percent rate of job growth exceeded the 1.5-percent national rate and ranked 56th among the 346 large U.S. counties.
Average weekly wages in Washington County increased 5.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2016 to the fourth quarter of 2017, above the national increase of 3.9 percent, and ranked 18th among the 346 largest U.S. counties. Over-the-year wage change was below the U.S. average in Pulaski (2.1 percent, 264th) and Benton (-1.4 percent, 344th).
Average weekly wage levels in the state’s three large counties, however, were below the nationwide average. Benton County’s average weekly wage of $1,008 ranked 167th among the 346 large U.S. counties. Weekly wages in Washington and Pulaski Counties, at $1,002 and $971, respectively, ranked 173rd and 197th nationally.