by Michael Tilley (mtilley@talkbusiness.net)

Editor’s note: The State of the State series provides reports twice a year on Arkansas’ key economic sectors. The series publishes stories to begin a year and stories in July/August to provide a broad mid-year update on the state’s economy. Link here for the State of the State page and previous stories.

Arkansas’ manufacturing sector ended 2023 with an estimated 163,000 jobs, slightly lower than the 164,000 in December 2022. But the sector saw jobs grow to 165,300 jobs in June, the highest since 166,100 in April 2009.

Manufacturing, once the state’s largest jobs sector, posted record employment of 247,600 in February 1995. The sector fell to a historic low of 150,000 in April 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic emerged.

U.S. manufacturing jobs totaled 12.979 million jobs in January 2024, up 0.3% compared with 12.942 million in January 2023. The U.S. manufacturing sector reached a record of 19.406 million jobs in August 1979.

State of the State 2024: Manufacturing sector faces uncertainty, continued labor challenges in 2024