Unemployment rates in Arkansas’ metropolitan areas generally declined in June. Unemployment held steady in Fort Smith and Texarkana, but declined by 0.1 percentage points in all of the other metro areas that cover parts of Arkansas. The declines contribute to a trend of falling unemployment rates since the beginning of the year. From January through June, rates declined by 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points, with the exceptions of Memphis (unchanged) and Texarkana (-0.1).

The unemployment rates reported for June show that Northwest Arkansas, Central Arkansas, and Jonesboro all have unemployment below the statewide and national averages. The remaining metro areas have rates equal to or slightly above the state and national levels.

Payroll Employment
Nonfarm payroll employment declined in all of Arkansas’ metro areas except for Northwest Arkansas in June. The job losses continue a trend of weakening employment growth over the past several months. Three-month changes are negative in six metro areas, and the year-over-year changes are negative in three.

Over the longer-term, employment growth remains concentrated in a limited number of metro areas—particularly Northwest Arkansas, Central Arkansas, and Jonesboro.

Annual revisions of the employment data for metropolitan areas is nearly complete. However, the Smoothed Seasonally Adjusted measures of employment and unemployment have yet to be updated.

Looking at the available data for March 2026, the not-seasonally adjusted unemployment data show a range of unemployment rates across the state’s metro areas. Northwest Arkansas continues to show the lowest unemployment rate in the state, while Hot Springs presently has the highest rate. Compared to March 2025, unemployment rates have risen in all metro areas except Memphis. (For reference, the not-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the state of Arkansas in March 2026 was 4.2%, up from 3.8% in March 2025.)

Payroll Employment
From February to March, nonfarm payroll employment increased in Northwest Arkansas, Jonesboro, Memphis, and Texarkana. Employment was down slightly in Little Rock, and unchanged in Fort Smith and Hot Springs. Over the past 12 months, employment has increased by 2.2% in Northwest Arkansas and by 1.1% in Central Arkansas. Other areas have shown smaller increases. Fort Smith is down by 0.7% and Hot Springs is 0.2% lower than in March 2025.

Over the past six years, employment gains in Northwest, Central Arkansas, and Jonesboro have been significant. Hot Springs is up by 2.0% over the 6 year period, while Memphis and Texarkana have experienced job losses over that time span.

The latest employment report showed mixed results for Arkansas’ metro areas. Unemployment rates were mostly unchanged, ticking up 0.1 percentage points in Little Rock and Memphis. Over the past 12 months, unemployment rates have generally drifted higher, with the exception of Texarkana, where the rate is down by 0.2 percentage points since July 2024.

Payroll Employment
Nonfarm payroll employment increased in most metro areas across the state. Memphis payrolls declined slightly and Fort Smith showed zero net gain for the month. However, increases were recorded in Arkansas’ other metros, with particularly notable gains in Hot Springs and Little Rock. Over the past 12 months, employment in Memphis, Hot Springs, and Fort Smith has held fairly steady, while payrolls in Jonesboro, Little Rock and Texarkana have increased by magnitudes greater than one percent. In Northwest Arkansas, the increase in employment since July 2024 has been 2.7%.

Labor market indicators for Arkansas’ metropolitan areas in June were mixed. Unemployment rates ranged from 2.9% in Northwest Arkansas to 4.3% in the Memphis metro area. Unemployment rates in Fort Smith and Jonesboro edged slightly higher from the May estimates, while Memphis and Texarkana declined by 0.1 percentage points.

Compared to six months ago, unemployment rates are generally up slightly, but with small declines in Memphis and Texarkana. Rates are higher than a year ago in all metro areas except Texarkana.

Payroll Employment
Nonfarm payroll employment changes were also mixed. Employment was lower in the four metro areas that have been showing the strongest growth in recent months: Northwest Arkansas, Central Arkansas, Jonesboro, and Texarkana. Employment was up slightly in Fort Smith, and unchanged in Hot Springs and Memphis.

Compared to a year ago, employment has increased in all metro areas except Memphis, albeit to varying degrees. Over the longer term, Fayetteville, Little Rock and Jonesboro have had the highest growth trends, but employment in all of the metro areas is higher than the pre-covid peak in February 2020.

Revisions to the metro area unemployment data—including the revised seasonally adjusted figures—are finally complete. The most significant revisions involve redefinitions of the metropolitan areas themselves, as well as updated population controls for labor force numbers. Pine Bluff is no longer considered a metropolitan area so new data will not be available for that urban center. Changes to the unemployment rate readings across the other metro areas were subject to only minor revisions.

Generally, the state’s metro areas have seen unemployment rates trending higher over the second half of 2024 and the first half of 2025 (with the exception of Fort Smith, which has seen no change since the beginning of 2024).

In the most recent monthly data for May, unemployment rates in all seven metro areas were unchanged from April. Northwest Arkansas continues to show the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 2.9%. Memphis and Texarkana have rates above 4%, while all other metro areas remain near 3.5% (slightly higher in Hot Springs).

Payroll Employment
Data for nonfarm payroll employment was revised in March. As with the unemployment rate data, the revisions were primarily associated with changes in population controls and the metro area definitions. The pattern of employment growth rates around the state was largely unaffected.

Recent trends are summarized in the table and figure below. From April to May, employment increased in all metro areas except Jonesboro. Over the past 12 months, growth rates have ranged from near zero in Hot Springs and Memphis to 3.2% in Northwest Arkansas.

All metro areas have shown net employment growth over the past five years. Employment growth in NWA has been nearly double that of Central Arkansas, with Jonesboro showing only slightly slower growth than Little Rock. Fort Smith, Hot Springs and Texarkana have all expanded by approximately 2% over the course of 5 years, while employment growth in Memphis has been near zero.

Updates to the data on employment and unemployment for metropolitan areas were released earlier this week. For Arkansas’ MSAs, there was little to take note of—except for the fact that softening labor market conditions in the rest of the nation does not seem to be taking hold here in Arkansas.

For example, the U.S. unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percent in July to 4.3% and Arkansas’ rate was unchanged at 3.3%. As shown in the table below, unemployment rates were unchanged in most of Arkansas’ metro areas, with the exception of small upticks in Memphis and Pine Bluff.

After rising through the second half of 2023, unemployment rates in most of Arkansas metro areas have been coming back down over the first half of 2024. As a result, unemployment rates across the state are little changed compared to a year ago, while the national unemployment rate has risen 0.8 percent. The exception to the general pattern has been Texarkana, which has followed the contrary pattern of lower unemployment in the second half of 2023 and a return to higher rates in 2024.

Payroll Employment
Nonfarm payroll employment showed mixed changes, with monthly declines in Jonesboro and Texarkana and relatively large increases in Pine Bluff and Hot Springs. Other metro areas were unchanged or up slightly.

Relative to a year earlier, payroll employment has increased in all metro areas except Memphis. Compared to February 2020, before the disruption of the Covid contraction, employment remains lower in Memphis, Pine Bluff and Texarkana. All other metro areas have shown positive growth, particularly in Northwest Arkansas, but also with solid increases in Jonesboro and Central Arkansas.

The latest estimates for employment and unemployment in metro areas were released by the BLS this week. Unemployment rates in most of Arkansas’ metro areas were unchanged, with small declines (-0.1%) registered for Northwest Arkansas and the Fort Smith MSA. It had been previously reported that the national unemployment rate ticked up by one-tenth of a percent in April, and that Arkansas’ unemployment rate ticked down by the same amount. Unemployment rates remain lower than the national average in Northwest Arkansas, Jonesboro, and Central Arkansas. In other metro areas, unemployment rates are at or above the national average.

Payroll Employment
Nonfarm payroll employment increased in most of the state’s metro areas in April, with the notable exception of Hot Springs. The largest percentage increases were in Northwest Arkansas and Jonesboro. Compared to a year ago, Northwest Arkansas has achieved the highest growth rate, followed by Central Arkansas. Employment in Fort Smith and Jonesboro have also increased, while other metro areas show zero or negative job growth.

Since the pre-pandemic month of February 2020, payroll employment growth rates have varied widely. Northwest Arkansas, Central Arkansas and Fort Smith have shown steady growth, albeit at different paces. Hot Springs and Jonesboro showed employment rebounds in 2022, but growth in those metro areas has slowed. In Pine Bluff, Texarkana and Memphis employment us unchanged or lower relative to levels in February 2020.