SC unemployment rate stayed at 5.5 percent during December

Arkansas’ unemployment rate dipped to 4.8 percent in December, the lowest since April 2001, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday.

Government hiring in December was 217,700, down 800 from November’s tally of 217,800 and just below year ago levels of 217,400. Unemployment in the state stood at 3.6 percent in November. Mining employment has fallen by 10,000 over the year.

Both initial claims and weeks claims decreased by 320 or -20.3%t and 2,491 or -27.1% respectively for unemployment benefits compared to one year ago.

The national unemployment rate, meanwhile, was 5 percent in December, down from 5.6 percent a year earlier.

Year over year, Nebraska’s private-sector industries with the most job growth included education, health services, trade, transportation and utilities and financial activities. No county had a double-digit unemployment rate in December, according to the FDEO.

The number of unemployed people in Louisiana dropped to 106,500, compared to 141,000 in December 2014.

Albany County’s unemployment rate slid below 4 percent for the first time since December 2007, according to Capital Region labor market analyst James Ross, who said that the county held a 3.3 percent rate in 2006. The final growth rate will likely come in at or near 3.0 percent.

The December rate compared to a November rate of 3.7 percent and a rate of 4.1 percent in December 2014.

South Carolina’s unemployment rate stayed right where it was last month to end 2015.

It might be tough for the rate to remain under given all the seasonal hires.

“These counties have been among the lowest in the state for a while”, Ross said. Also above 8.0 percent for the month were Noble County (8.9 percent), Morgan County (8.6 percent), and Meigs County (8.1 percent). That includes about 6,000 fewer jobs in the last six months of 2014 and 2,000 fewer jobs past year.

Five other metro areas in the state posted lower unemployment rates than Rochester.