Counties with the highest unemployment in Arkansas

The first jobs report fully under the new Trump administration showed a softening job market, with the unemployment rate ticking up to 4.1% in February, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures released March 7.

Job growth increased but fell below expectations, one of several possible fissures appearing in the once rock-solid labor market. Businesses are pulling back on hiring as the economic forecast and policy outlook grow murkier due to volatile trade policies and large cuts to the federal workforce.

Federal government employment fell by 10,000 in February, pushing up total cuts to the federal workforce. In the first two months of 2025, 62,530 federal workers were let go. However, the most recent cuts, including the Department of Education's workforce getting slashed by nearly half, have not yet appeared in official jobs data. Retail employment also fell by 6,000.

The broader unemployment index, known as the U-6, which also includes laborers working part-time because they can't find full-time work, and those who want to work but have given up searching, rose to 8%, its highest since October 2021.

To get a glimpse of regional variations in employment, Stacker compiled a list of counties with the highest unemployment rates in Arkansas, using BLS data. Counties are ranked by their preliminary unemployment rate in January 2025, with initial ties broken by the number of unemployed people within that county, though some ties may remain. County-level unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted.

Key takeaways: Jobs report shows softening labor market

February's job growth of 151,000 fell below economists' expected gains of 160,000, showing the labor market is cooling faster than predicted. Experts say many companies weighing policy changes and economic uncertainty are deciding it's safer to hold off on hiring decisions for now.

"If you were a company and you were saying, 'I'm looking to expand, or I'm looking to hire,' you would have investors in those companies saying, 'Are you crazy?'" Ron Hetrick, senior labor economist at Lightcast, told Marketplace.

Consumer spending fell in January for the first time in two years, which may have led to layoffs or hiring slowdowns, Nela Richardson, ADP's chief economist, told NBC News.

The big story: From bold promises to frozen labor market

After an initial market pop following Trump's electoral win, indexes have slumped to below when he took office, and uncertainty about the future of the markets is a common theme. Are threatened tariffs in place, delayed, reversed, or ramped up? Has that federal worker been fired or given their job back? Are those federal dollars slashed or reinstated? It's a question mark that changes daily.

Research shows that uncertainty invites lower investment, slows employment, and increases financial market volatility. The word "uncertain" showed up 47 times in the March edition of the Beige Book, the Federal Reserve's snapshot of reports from across the nation, compared to 17 times in the previous report from January.

The new administration's blitz of executive orders and trade policy waffling have cast a dense fog over the short-term economic outlook. One thing that is known? Uncertainty isn't good for business planning, job creation, or hiring.

In a March 12 interview with Semafor, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon noted that average consumers likely don't change "what they're going to do because they read about tariffs," but "companies might."

"Uncertainty is not a good thing," Dimon added.

To get a better idea of your community's current economy, read on to see the counties with the highest unemployment in Arkansas.

45. Polk County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.2%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 7,325 people (311 unemployed)

45. Poinsett County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.2%
--- 1-month change: +0.5 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 9,985 people (416 unemployed)

45. Calhoun County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.2%
--- 1-month change: +0.9 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,051 people (86 unemployed)

45. Conway County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.2%
--- 1-month change: +0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 9,112 people (382 unemployed)

45. Greene County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.2%
--- 1-month change: +0.5 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 20,154 people (837 unemployed)

45. Columbia County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.2%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 8,807 people (372 unemployed)

39. Cleveland County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.3%
--- 1-month change: +0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,966 people (127 unemployed)

39. Little River County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.3%
--- 1-month change: +0.5 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 5,133 people (219 unemployed)

39. Lawrence County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.3%
--- 1-month change: +0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 6,645 people (285 unemployed)

39. Miller County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.3%
--- 1-month change: +0.6 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 16,969 people (732 unemployed)

39. Mississippi County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.3%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -1.0 percentage points
- Total labor force: 20,561 people (879 unemployed)

39. Perry County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.3%
--- 1-month change: +0.6 percentage points
--- 1-year change: 0.0 percentage points
- Total labor force: 4,278 people (184 unemployed)

36. Baxter County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.4%
--- 1-month change: +0.5 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 16,588 people (726 unemployed)

36. Woodruff County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.4%
--- 1-month change: +0.6 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,892 people (126 unemployed)

36. Dallas County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.4%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,675 people (117 unemployed)

33. Clay County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.5%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -1.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 5,949 people (269 unemployed)

33. Sharp County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.5%
--- 1-month change: +0.6 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 6,528 people (292 unemployed)

33. Clark County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.5%
--- 1-month change: +0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.7 percentage points
- Total labor force: 9,214 people (419 unemployed)

29. Carroll County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.6%
--- 1-month change: +1.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 11,477 people (528 unemployed)

29. Cleburne County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.6%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 9,773 people (452 unemployed)

29. Cross County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.6%
--- 1-month change: +0.5 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 7,423 people (344 unemployed)

29. Ouachita County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.6%
--- 1-month change: +0.7 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 9,040 people (414 unemployed)

26. Searcy County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.7%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,924 people (137 unemployed)

26. Pope County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.7%
--- 1-month change: +0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 27,673 people (1,298 unemployed)

26. Arkansas County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.7%
--- 1-month change: +1.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +1.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 7,335 people (347 unemployed)

23. Fulton County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.8%
--- 1-month change: +1.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 3,952 people (189 unemployed)

23. Logan County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.8%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 8,747 people (417 unemployed)

23. Drew County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.8%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 7,842 people (380 unemployed)

22. Jackson County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.9%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -1.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 5,562 people (274 unemployed)

20. Van Buren County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.2%
--- 1-month change: +0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 5,879 people (305 unemployed)

20. Johnson County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.2%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.7 percentage points
- Total labor force: 10,031 people (517 unemployed)

18. Crittenden County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.3%
--- 1-month change: +0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 20,437 people (1,086 unemployed)

18. Lafayette County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.3%
--- 1-month change: +0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,294 people (122 unemployed)

16. Montgomery County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.4%
--- 1-month change: +0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,893 people (155 unemployed)

16. Nevada County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.4%
--- 1-month change: +1.7 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +1.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,461 people (134 unemployed)

14. Monroe County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.5%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +1.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,591 people (142 unemployed)

14. Jefferson County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.5%
--- 1-month change: +0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 24,225 people (1,331 unemployed)

13. Union County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.6%
--- 1-month change: +0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 15,630 people (876 unemployed)

11. Newton County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.7%
--- 1-month change: +2.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.9 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,614 people (148 unemployed)

11. Stone County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.7%
--- 1-month change: +1.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 3,986 people (227 unemployed)

10. Lincoln County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.8%
--- 1-month change: +1.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.9 percentage points
- Total labor force: 3,298 people (192 unemployed)

9. St. Francis County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.9%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 7,557 people (448 unemployed)

8. Marion County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 6%
--- 1-month change: +1.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 5,280 people (315 unemployed)

7. Lee County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 6.2%
--- 1-month change: +1.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,325 people (145 unemployed)

6. Izard County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 6.4%
--- 1-month change: +1.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.7 percentage points
- Total labor force: 4,047 people (258 unemployed)

5. Bradley County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 6.5%
--- 1-month change: +1.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +1.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 3,862 people (251 unemployed)

4. Chicot County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 6.8%
--- 1-month change: 0.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 3,101 people (210 unemployed)

2. Phillips County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 6.9%
--- 1-month change: +0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: 0.0 percentage points
- Total labor force: 4,888 people (336 unemployed)

2. Ashley County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 6.9%
--- 1-month change: +0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 6,375 people (439 unemployed)

1. Desha County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 7.5%
--- 1-month change: +2.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +1.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 3,985 people (298 unemployed)

This story features data reporting by Karim Noorani, writing by Ben Popken, and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 50 states.