by Michael Tilley (mtilley@talkbusiness.net)
Arkansas’ manufacturing sector accounts for 12% of the state’s total payroll jobs and could add more than 1,000 jobs if recent growth rates continue, according to economist Greg Kaza. Job numbers in the sector remain well below peak employment in February 1995.
Kaza, executive director of the Little Rock-based Arkansas Policy Foundation, said the sector, once the largest jobs sector in the state, still is a big job generator.
“The manufacturing private industry sector continues to make a significant contribution to Arkansas’ economy. One might say, ‘It’s firing on four cylinders with the potential for six.’ In terms of jobs, manufacturing adds nearly one in eight jobs, or 12% of total Arkansas payroll employment, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics records,” Kaza noted in a brief analysis provided to Talk Business & Politics before July numbers were available.
State of the State Mid-Year 2024: Arkansas’ manufacturing sector producing more ‘with fewer workers’
