The relationship between unemployment rates and theft can at times be seen as closely correlated because of certain labels and stereotypes that society has created. The higher the unemployment rate, the higher the theft. While this correlation can be true, the numbers have not always supported this case.
In 2012, the average unemployment rate for the state of Arkansas was 7.6 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The top five cities in Arkansas with the highest unemployment rate in 2012 included Earle, with roughly 26 percent, Eudora, with around 24 percent, Marianna, with roughly 24 percent, BullShoals with around 22 percent, and Waldron with roughly 22 percent. That same year, the theft rates for these same cities included Earle, with 10 thefts, Eudora, with three thefts, Marianna, with 36 thefts, BullShoals, with 278 thefts, and Waldron with two thefts. By looking at these statistics, it is clear that outliers are the cities of BullShoals with 278 thefts, and Marianna with 36 thefts.
In 2012, the top five cities with the highest theft count included Lonoke with 1,980 thefts, Osceola, with 863 thefts, Gassville, with 627 thefts, Jacksonville, with 533 thefts, and Kensett with 501 thefts. These cities had a corresponding unemployment rate of around 11 percent for Lonoke, Osceola, with roughly 16 percent, Gassville, with almost 7 percent, Jacksonville with roughly 6 percent, and Kensett with almost 12 percent. While Lonoke had the highest theft, it had a pretty low unemployment rate. The outlier of these statistics is Osceola, with a high theft rate and a moderate unemployment rate.
In 2015, the average unemployment rate for the United States was 5.7 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In Arkansas, the top five cities with the highest unemployment rate that year included, Lincoln, Harrisburg, McRae, Pangburn and Ozark. The employment rate for Lincoln in 2015 was roughly 32 percent, followed by Harrisburg with around 28 percent, McRae with 26 percent, Pangburn with roughly 23 percent, and Ozark with roughly 23 percent. There were 40 thefts in Lincoln, followed by 69 thefts in Harrisburg, 2 thefts in McRae, 12 in Pangburn, and Ozark with 79 thefts. The outliers in this data include Ozark with 79 thefts, and the lowest of the unemployment rates, followed by Harrisburg with 69 thefts.
In 2015, the top five cities with the highest theft rates include Little Rock, with 10,032 thefts, Fort Smith, with 4,219 thefts, Fayetteville, with 2,924 thefts, Conway, with 2,576 thefts and North Little Rock with 2,371 thefts. These cities had unemployment rates of 9 percent in Little Rock, roughly 7 percent for Fort Smith, around 8 percent for Fayetteville, 8 percent for Conway and roughly 9 percent for North Little Rock. All of these major Arkansas cities had high theft with fairly low unemployment rates.
From these calculated statistics, it is clear to see that the overall unemployment rates for the top five cities not only changed, but rose in 2015 from 2012, as well as the theft. Despite this, the association of unemployment and high theft did not always correlate. It is clear that these may only be stereotypes, and that there are many other factors that attribute to unemployment and theft.
Below are two graphs. The first being 2012 Unemployment Rate vs. Theft, and the second being 2015 Unemployment vs. Theft. I chose these types of graphs because I thought they clearly showed the relationships between theft and unemployment rates.
Excel Sheets:
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