Fourteen of the 18 municipalities tracked by the Arkansas Tech Business Index (ATBI) saw their index ratings increase during November 2015.
The biggest move forward was made by Conway, which increased its ATBI rating 1.9 points. Other cities with increases of one point or greater included Van Buren (+1.4 points), Pine Bluff (+1.33 points), El Dorado (+1.28 points), Rogers (+1.26 points), Russellville (+1.16 points) and Mountain Home (+1.13 points).
ATBI is a project created by the Arkansas Tech University College of Business and sponsored by Arvest Bank.
It is a comprehensive measure that provides a snapshot of economic activity around the Natural State. It encompasses a labor index, housing market index, construction index and retail sales index. The index is based around 100. A city rating above 100 indicates that the city is currently doing better than the state average from 2009 to the present.
Bentonville is No. 1 on the ATBI for the sixth time in the last seven months and the eighth time in the 23-month history of the index. It finished November 2015 with a rating of 106.53.
Fayetteville (2nd, 106.10), Rogers (3rd, 105.71), Springdale (4th, 104.94), Conway (5th, 102.83), Fort Smith (6th, 102.61), Mountain Home (7th, 100.64), Hot Springs (8th, 100.54) and Van Buren (9th, 100.22) also completed November 2015 with an ATBI rating above 100.
Russellville (10th, 99.24), Searcy (11th, 98.56), Jonesboro (12th, 97.90), North Little Rock (13th, 97.16), West Memphis (14th, 97.09), Texarkana (15th, 96.59), El Dorado (16th, 96.02), Little Rock (17th, 94.65) and Pine Bluff (18th, 93.52) complete the ATBI for November 2015.
Dr. Marc Fusaro, associate professor of economics at Arkansas Tech, is the developer of the Arkansas Tech Business Index.
Visit www.atu.edu/atbi to access the data used to develop the ATBI.
