Beebe: State bucking economic dip
Posted on Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Arkansas has been somewhat insulated from the national recession, but the state must prepare for the worst, Gov. Mike Beebe told Northwest Arkansas business leaders Tuesday.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen going forward,” said Beebe, speaking at a Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce Leaders Conference. “So far, we have bucked the trend nationally with the downturn they’re experiencing.... But we’re not immune to what’s happening nationally so we need to prepare for it.”
Beebe said Arkansas had a net increase of 36, 200 jobs between January 2007 and August 2008, even though state unemployment increased from 4. 7 percent to 4. 9 percent. About 14, 000 of the new jobs were in manufacturing.
Beebe said Arkansas also is reversing the trend of outsourcing jobs. Five foreign companies recently announced new manufacturing operations in Arkansas that will create thousands of jobs, he said.
Three European companies — LM Glasfiber of Denmark, Nordex AG of Germany and Polymarin Composites of The Netherlands — will manufacture windmill blades and turbines in Arkansas. And two companies based in India —Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren Ltd. and MAN Industries Ltd. — will manufacture pipe in the state.
Northwest Arkansas’ economic growth may have slowed, but the area is still prospering, Beebe told the group.
“I know by your standards you’re experiencing tough times,” he said. “But trust me, you are so much better off than most of the rest of the world.”
Beebe asked the audience not to begrudge Northwest Arkansas’ tax money going to fund projects in less prosperous parts of the state. Northwest Arkansas is the state’s economic engine now, but it wasn’t always that way, he said. During its first 150 years, most of the state’s revenue came from farmland in east Arkansas. And that revenue helped pay for things that Northwest Arkansas needed.
Beebe said he hopes the state will continue to buck the national trend, but he can’t count on that, nor on an economic stimulus package from Congress.
“I’m not waiting on a magic bullet or a magic wand from Washington, D. C.,” he said.
With the Legislature to convene in January, Beebe said it’s important for the state to continue to focus on education and economic development.
Beebe said Arkansas has a surplus of funds and some of that money should be used “to plug gaps” such as in Medicaid funding. Beebe said the state needs to spend $ 50 million to $ 55 million on Medicaid.
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