About the Center

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service (UADA-Extension) joins the ranks of just a handful of Extension programs leading a U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) University Center (UC) since the programs started in 1980.

Who do we serve?

We serve the entire state of Arkansas, and we have a particular interest in reaching rural, Hispanic, and Marshallese communities across the state of Arkansas by strengthening, supporting, and sustaining the eight EDA Economic and Planning Development Districts across the state.

There are a total eight districts that serve all 75 counties ranging from six to twelve counties each. You can find your district by county using the map below.

Each district provides a range of services including:

• grant writing
• planning
• community and economic development
• project administration for economic development projects.

In addition, each district is required to develop a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS), a planning tool of the EDA that is a strategy-driven plan for regional economic development that is place-based and specific to the needs and opportunities of the region.

Find Your EDA Development District

Labor Market Observatory

The Labor Market Observatory (LMO) is a data visualization tool designed to help development professionals, community organizations, and individuals access workforce indicators from various state and federal sources. The LMO is an interactive dashboard featuring various workforce indicators such as demographics, housing and income, and employment statistics at the county, development district, and state level.

All eight of EDA's Economic Development Districts (EDDs) have a custom view for each data set where you can view district-level data or drill down to an individual county.

How it works

Simply hover over the map to see information about a particular area called a tool tip. Clicking on the map isolates that data in the table below the map making the data easier to focus on. There are two ways to view district-level data.

• Option 1: Select the desired district data filter from the left-hand column to specify a region. Click on the desired district to isolate that data in table below the map. Select "Individual District" from the left-hand column to view all data for that region.
• Option 2: From any view click on a district from the charts on the right-hand of the map to isolate that district data. Doing so will isolate data to the current view. Select "Individual District" from the left-hand column to view all data for that region.

You can customize your own region by holding down "Shift" (Windows) or "Command" (Mac). Doing so will pull data from the selected county while also visually displaying how it compares to that district overall. You can change the size of the dashboard by using the tools on the bottom-left of the dashboard.

All data is available for download below the dashboard.

Updates and features

Our team intends on updating the data periodically to reflect the most current data available. More data and tools are planned in the coming months. Want to know when those changes happen? Sign up for our FACTs newsletter and never miss an update or feature.

Trainings

We will be hosting a series of trainings on how to use the LMO and ways to improve your storytelling through better data visualization. These trainings can be found on the UADA Calendar and will be shared in the FACTs newsletter. You can also check the UADA's Community and Economic Development Facebook page for event postings.

Contact us

Need help with the LMO dashboard or looking for different data? Click on the help button within the LMO or complete the contact form.

LMO Data

Download an Excel file of the LMO data for reports or a more granular look.

2019-2023 ACS 5-year, from the subject group S2503: Financial Characteristics
2020 Decennial Census Detailed Demographics and Housing Characteristics File A, Table T01001 : Total Population
Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics estimates from December 2024

 

Program Services

Our EDA University Center serves as a resource to the state of Arkansas’ economic development ecosystem with a particular focus on:

• increasing the capacity of planning and development districts to serve Rural, Hispanic, and Marshallese communities through culturally relevant program support
• serving as an economic development data resource center with a particular focus on workforce data that increases economic development resiliency
• strengthening the economic development ecosystem in Arkansas counties that draws on Extension’s land grant mission and presence in all 75 counties.

Download Our Services   Descargue Nuestro Servicios

Because each district and region has unique challenges and opportunities, we use an individualized approach with an asset-based community development lens that leverages the strengths of Extension programming, relationships, and university resources and expertise.