ATBI Adds 20th City to Monthly Ratings

Paragould has become the 20th municipality tracked by the Arkansas Tech Business Index, a project created by the Arkansas Tech University College of Business and sponsored by Arvest Bank.

Paragould debuts as part of the April 2016 ATBI with an index rating of 94.45, placing it 17th on the list of 20 Arkansas cities that are part of the index.

Only five cities increased their ATBI rating from March 2016 to April 2016, and only five municipalities completed April 2016 with a rating above 100.

Bentonville (1st, 108.25), Springdale (2nd, 105.20), Fayetteville (3rd, 104.55), Rogers (4th, 104.28) and Benton (5th, 100.91) led the April 2016 ATBI.

April 2016 marked the 10th time in the 28-month history of the ATBI that Bentonville completed a month atop the index.

The Arkansas Tech Business Index 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.

Hot Springs (6th, 99.82), North Little Rock (7th, 99.03), Mountain Home (8th, 98.64), Van Buren (9th, 97.55), Conway (10th, 97.52), Fort Smith (11th, 97.06), Searcy (12th, 96.88), El Dorado (13th, 96.48), Russellville (14th, 95.84), West Memphis (15th, 95.81), Texarkana (16th, 95.18), Paragould (17th, 94.45), Jonesboro (18th, 93.52), Pine Bluff (19th, 92.48) and Little Rock (20th, 89.02) completed the ATBI for April 2016.

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.