Jonesboro, AR – JonesboroRightNow.com – While Arkansas’ unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2% last month, an economist said the state is adding jobs faster than the nation, with Jonesboro growing even faster than the state.

According to a report released Jan. 27 by Dr. Michael Pakko, chief economist at the Arkansas Economic Development Institute, unemployment rose from 4.1% to 4.2% in December.

Pakko explained that the number of unemployed Arkansans was 60,000 in December, the first time the number has risen that high since 2015, apart from the 2020 pandemic. However, he emphasized that this isn’t because jobs are going away, but rather the opposite.

“The increase in Arkansas’ unemployment rate over the second half of 2025 has been driven by a steady increase in the number of unemployed, but meanwhile, employment growth has continued,” he wrote. “The number of employed was up by 3,541 in December.”

In an interview with Jonesboro Right Now following the report’s release, Pakko explained that this dynamic of unemployment and employment numbers rising simultaneously is what economists call a “growing labor force.”

“We’re facing this unique set of movements and variables right now where the number of unemployed is clearly rising, but we’re also seeing the overall labor force growing. Generally, I would say that is a pretty healthy labor market condition,” he said.

Jonesboro vs. The Nation

Northeast Arkansas appears to be heating up in terms of employment compared to the nation.

Pakko’s report highlighted that U.S. job growth slowed down significantly in 2025, rising only 0.4%. Arkansas nearly tripled that pace, growing by 1.1%.

However, he told JRN that Jonesboro is outpacing them both. He explained that the city expanded its workforce by 1.4% over the last year, making it the second-fastest growing economy in the state, trailing only Northwest Arkansas.

“The positive trends of employment growth are even more notable in Jonesboro than perhaps other parts of the state,” Pakko said.

Training the “New” Workforce

With the number of unemployed people in Arkansas up by more than 8,000 since June, there are more people looking for work but coming up short.

Shelle Randall, director of workforce development at Jonesboro Unlimited, said that while employers have applicants, the challenge has been finding candidates who fit the role with the necessary skills.

She told JRN that the disconnect varies by industry, but the strategy for fixing it has shifted from simply recruiting people to actively building a pipeline of skilled workers.

To bridge the gap between the 60,000 unemployed Arkansans and the open jobs, cities are making sure there are initiatives designed to make job seekers “industry-ready.”

For Jonesboro, Randall said the Career Readiness Education and Skills Training (CREST) initiative is a key driver in preparing workers. Created in a partnership with Arkansas State University and ASU-Newport, the program is designed to get workers into roles specifically needed by local manufacturers. She said over 50 people have been trained through CREST.

Beyond CREST, there are other initiatives designed to attack this problem from multiple angles:

• HERE2HIRED: A three-phase initiative connecting high school seniors directly with local employers
• TEKSTARZ: A summer manufacturing camp and industry externship program for educators
• MyJonesboroJobs.com: A localized job board intended to cut through the noise of more nationalized aggregation websites

Logistics vs. Manufacturing

An area of concern noted in the state report was that the “Transportation and Utilities” sector declined statewide in December by 0.6 percentage points.

However, Pakko told JRN that Jonesboro’s “goods-producing” sector, specifically manufacturing and industrial jobs, has recovered from a lull in 2022 and 2023 and is now outpacing the service sector.

This aligns with Jonesboro’s long-term strategy of targeting food processing industries, validated by the recent announcement that InnovAsian Cuisine Enterprises Inc. will be building a 175,000 square-foot food manufacturing facility in the city, creating approximately 200 new jobs.

| READ MORE: InnovAsian building 175,000-square-foot food manufacturing facility in Jonesboro

Randall said the region’s “labor shed” is a major selling point for these types of projects.

“Our labor studies indicate that people are willing to commute 45 minutes for good opportunities,” she said. “We continue to develop ways to engage potential workers through education, training, and removing barriers to work.”

While the unemployment line might be getting longer in Arkansas, Pakko said that the economic outlook remains one of growth.

“I’m kind of taking the unusual signals that we’re getting as an uncertain outcome, but it tends to be positive,” he explained.

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