Employment Snapshot - Fort Smith, AR-OK January-2021

Weller Emmons

VP of Analytics and Finance at Mployer Advisor. He is passionate about leveraging data to provide industry leading insights for Mployer Advisor’s clients. Prior to joining Mployer Advisor, Emmons served as a healthcare provider strategy consultant for Knowledge Capital Group and as an internal strategy consultant at HCA Healthcare. Emmons earned his MBA and BE in Biomedical Engineering, both from Vanderbilt University.

Market Employment Summary

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Additional Benchmarking Resources

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Overall unemployment rate moved up to 5.0% with the biggest shift in Transportation & Utilities, which lost 500 roles, based on the most recently available information published in March 2021.

Total employment in the Fort Smith, AR-OK market rose by 1,931 jobs in January and the unemployment rate increased compared to the prior month by 60 bps to 5.0%. The national unemployment rate increased by 31 bps over the same time to 6.8%.

Fort Smith, AR-OK unemployment rate is 181 bps below the national rate which is a positive sign.
Unemployment in the market is 90 bps above the unemployment rate in the market last year at this time, which is a negative.
Average wages (per hour) grew in January versus prior month by 2.1% and are down compared to last year at this time in the market.

Month over Month Unemployment Change

Year over Year Unemployment Change

Fort Smith, AR-OK Unemployment January 2021

For key employment segments of the market, total jobs declined by -1.1%. Key sectors include:

Transportation & Utilities: 23,700; -500
Government: 17,600; -500
Manufacturing: 16,800; no change
Education & Healthcare: 16,700; +100
Business Services: 11,500; -200
Restaurants & Hotels: 8,200; no change
Construction, Mining: 5,400; -200
Other Jobs: 4,500; +100
Financial Services: 3,700; no change
IT & Development: 1,100; no change

Employment Change by Key Sector

Fort Smith, AR-OK Unemployment by Industry January 2021

Data is based on the most recent 12 months available, through January 2021 (Data published March 2021 and reports created on March 25, 2021). Source: Government data agency and locally acquired statistics.

Note: All reported data is not seasonally adjusted.

Fort Smith, AR-OK