Fort Smith Metro Adds 200 Jobs in July as Manufacturing Climbs 11.9% in 5 Years
Updated
Updated · talkbusiness.net · Sep 14
Fort Smith Metro Adds 200 Jobs in July as Manufacturing Climbs 11.9% in 5 Years
1 articles · Updated · talkbusiness.net · Sep 14
Summary
Fort Smith metro logged 99,700 nonfarm jobs in July, up 0.2% from a year earlier, while the number of unemployed rose 3.2% to 4,645.
Manufacturing helped drive the gain, reaching 17,900 jobs—up 1.1% year over year and 11.9% above July 2021—while leisure and hospitality rose 4.2% to 9,900, near June’s record 10,000.
Professional and business services remained a weak spot at 10,000 jobs, down 300 from July 2025 and 800 from July 2021 in one of the region’s higher-paying sectors.
Even with July’s increase, Fort Smith employment stays well below its 108,700 peak in 2007, trailing faster annual job growth in Northwest Arkansas at 2.6% and central Arkansas at 1.3%.
Arkansas statewide payrolls were nearly flat at 1,341,700 jobs, up 0.14% year over year—the smallest gain of 2026 so far—though the jobless rate improved to 4.0% from 4.1%.