Collections of the city of Hot Springs' 1% general fund sales tax were up on a year-over-year basis for the ninth consecutive month in November, putting collections on pace to exceed last year's record-setting total by more than $2 million.
The November sales tax report the city released Monday showed collections were up 12.77%, or $159,176, compared to the previous November. Through the first 11 months of last year, collections outperformed 2020 by 14.57%, or $1,966,156.
November marked the fifth consecutive month collections surpassed a pre-pandemic month that included collections from internet retailers and e-commerce facilitators, which a 2019 change in the state tax code required to collect and remit state and local sales taxes.
The expanded tax base went into effect in July 2019. Collections of the city's 1% sales tax from July through November of last year surpassed the same period of 2019 by 19.81%, or $1,182,229. The $15,461,558 collected during the first 11 months of last year beat the 2021 budget's revenue forecast by 13.70%, or $1,863,428.
The Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission reported that November collections of the 3% sales tax it levies on prepared food and lodging in the city were up 21.24%, or $110,432, compared to the previous November. The $7,542,272 the tax collected through the first 11 months of last year outperformed the same periods of 2020 by 32.43%, or $1,846,887, and 2019 by 16.47%, or $1,066,793.
After the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area posted no year-over-year job gains in November, it lost 400 jobs in December compared to the previous December, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' preliminary jobs report.
It was the first month that fewer jobs were reported on a year-over-year basis since April 2020, the start of 12 consecutive months of job losses that saw the local economy lose 2,325 jobs a month on average through March 2021.
The metro area averaged job gains of 2,114 a month during a seven-month recovery from April through October of last year. The 40,200 jobs reported in April 2019 are the metro area's high-water mark for jobs since January 2011. The 39,000 jobs reported last June were the most since the pandemic began in March 2020.
The metro area's 2.8% preliminary unemployment rate for November was the lowest monthly rate in the last 11 years, beating the 2.9% rate reported in April 2019. The rate has fallen more than 80% from its pandemic peak in April 2020.
In November, the local economy had 38,683 employed people in its labor force of 39,785. The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines the civilian labor force as people 16 and older who are working or actively looking for work.