Millennia come and go, but Arkansas wages remain near the bottom.
Far from earning a living wage, many Arkansas workers are below the poverty line, and not all of these are in the private sector. The personal care aides enter private homes to care for the elderly and disabled. Because the state considers them contractors, rather than employees, they have no health insurance either. Governments need to pay their own employees more, and the state needs to aim its industrial-recruitment efforts at companies that pay decent wages. This information has been kept secret, which means that the legislature and the taxpayers cannot know if the industrial subsidies are worthwhile or not.