Above: A look inside a Dassault Falcon Jet Corp facility. Dassault Falcon's Little Rock location ranks as Arkansas' second-largest manufacturing company. (Image source: Dassault Falcon Jet Corp)
Manufacturing employment in Arkansas inched up over the past year, according to MNI, compiler and publisher of comprehensive business profiles of the nation’s nearly 400,000 manufacturing companies. According to MNI’s survey of the state’s manufacturers, Arkansas added a net 1,523 jobs or roughly 0.7% between September 2021 and September 2022.
Arkansas is currently home to 2,840 manufacturers employing 194,553 according to MNI data.
The food processing sector accounts for a large percentage of Arkansas’ industrial employment, with 51,488 workers or roughly a quarter of the state’s manufacturing workers. Over the past year, employment in the state’s food production sector grew by 2.4%.
Second-ranked apparel and textile products accounts for 16,671 workers, with no significant change reported over the survey year, while third-ranked fabricated metals accounts for 16,278 jobs, also virtually unchanged year-over-year.
Growing Arkansas sub-industries include transportation equipment (nec), which saw employment soar 76% during the survey year. Additional subsector posting growth included reconstituted wood products, up 31%; motors and generators, up 8%; and conveyors and conveying equipment, up 7%.
These were offset by declines in copper rolling and drawing, down 28%; and industrial organic chemicals, down 23%.
MNI’s city data reveals Bentonville ranks as Arkansas’ top city by number of industrial jobs, home to 14,508 workers, with no significant change reported over the year. Second-ranked Springdale accounts for 13,368 jobs, with the city’s industrial employment growing 5.2% over the past twelve months. Little Rock ranks third with 11,781 workers, virtually unchanged year-over-year.
Other top manufacturing cities in Arkansas include Fort Smith (10,983 jobs); Rogers (6,311 jobs); and Pine Bluff (6,150 jobs).
Want to know more about Arkansas manufacturing companies? Read our post Top 10 Manufacturing Companies in Arkansas. Looking to contact Arkansas manufacturing companies? Learn more about our Arkansas data for sales, marketing, business development and research here.
