by David Cox
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark – Unemployment in Northwest Arkansas continues to slowly decline in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for July 2020 stands at 5.7 percent, down from 6.4 percent in June. While the rate continues to decrease, it is almost doubled from the same time last year and is at its highest rate since 2013.
As for the state, numbers look similar. Preliminary numbers in August tab the unemployment rate at 7.3 percent, a slight uptick from July, however, still lower than the yearly high in April, when strict COVID-19 precautions were in place.
University of Arkansas senior, Lance Nolen, worked a second job at HPER on campus when the university shut down in March. He said money was tight for him before the pandemic and became worried after being forced to stop working.
“My first thoughts were ‘well I’m going to be screwed with money,’ Nolen said, “and I didn’t know what I was going to do.”
Jeff Cooperstein works for the University of Arkansas Center for Business and Economic Research. He said while the unemployment rate is going down, coronavirus could cause another jump in unemployment during the winter months.
“If, for some reason, COVID spiked heavily again, and it put states and municipalities in the position where they have to go back to hard shutdowns,” he said, “then you can definitely see unemployment increase again.”
Nolen said while he is still looking for a second job to replace the one he had at HPER, the increased unemployment benefits he received from April to July will help him long term.
“I was able to get it fortunately,” Nolen said, “and the extra money helped me save a lot of money to get through this pandemic.”