JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) – With a few businesses having to close and lay off employees, will that continue in 2025?
Arkansas State University Economics Professor Gary Latanich said there won’t be a major disaster here in Arkansas even with the recent layoffs.
“The trend path that we are on is not going to change much. You shouldn’t expect there to be a disaster, or we are going to become the richest state in the union,” said Latanich.
With President Trump returning to office, one main focus of his campaign was the implications of using tariffs.
If he does apply the tariffs to all imported products, Latanich added that it would result in a large jump in the cost of multiple items.
“A lot will depend on if the new president imposes his tariffs,” said Latanich. “If he imposes a 10 percent tariff on all imported products, you are looking at a $3,000 dollar price tag for Americans by tomorrow from what they did yesterday.”
That would be the same thing as if there were no tariffs, and you received a 3,000 dollar pay cut.
Latanich added that if he takes the 20 percent tariff, it could be up to a 4,500 dollar increase in prices.
Now it would be a one-time jump in prices, and then the inflation would continue as before, but the prices would be super high.
For something upcoming that would affect the economy positively, interest rates are looking to potentially drop and benefit the housing market.
“Going to be lowering interest rates 3 or 4 times over the coming year,” said Latanich. “Interest rates will drop, which will benefit the housing market tremendously, we could see a surge of housing with falling interest rates.”
As for the recent layoffs in the local area, such as the announcement of the closing of Butterball in Jonesboro, it’s not a trend expected to continue at a high rate.
With Arkansas having a significantly lower unemployment rate than the national average, finding a new job is a lot easier here than in other places in the country.
“Unemployment in Arkansas is well below the national average at 3.4 percent, where it’s 4.2 percent for the nation,” said Latanich. “If you have driven around Jonesboro, you will see lots and lots of help-wanted ads, so there would be no problem with Jonesboro absorbing these unemployed workers.”
Latanich added that finding a job with the same pay level is where things get tricky.
Looking for places that provide the same level of insurance coverage is another major concern for those who unfortunately lost their job.
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