A majority of year-over-year job gains in the Fort Smith metro in August were from the Trade, Transportation, Utilities and Education and Health Services sectors. Smaller gains were reported in manufacturing and tourism employment.<\/p>\n
The Fort Smith metro had an estimated 103,600 nonfarm jobs in August, up 1,000 jobs, or 0.97%, compared with August 2024. Regional employment is 5% below the peak of 108,800 in November 2007. The metro had 4,219 unemployed, up 16.4 from 3,626 in August 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The August numbers are preliminary and subject to revision.<\/p>\n
The metro jobless rate was 4.1%, up from 3.6% in August 2024. The state\u2019s jobless rate was 3.8%, up from 3.5% in August 2024.<\/p>\n
Trade, Transportation, Utilities jobs in the metro were an estimated 22,100 in August, up 500 jobs compared with 21,600 in August 2024. Education and Health Services jobs in the region were an estimated 17,800, up 500 jobs from 17,300 in August 2024.<\/p>\n
The Education and Health Services sector in the Fort Smith metro has seen significant job gains since the turn of the century. Average monthly job numbers in the sector were an estimated 17,200 in 2024, up 49.5% compared with the average of 11,500 in 2000, according to BLS data.<\/p>\n
Manufacturing jobs in the Fort Smith region have recovered in recent years but are well below peak employment. The average number of monthly manufacturing jobs in 2024 was 18,000, a level not seen since 2011. However, regional manufacturing jobs are more than 60% below peak employment of 29,200 in June 1999.<\/p>\n
The 2025 numbers reflect significant revisions to the data and counties included in the estimates, with LeFlore County, Okla., removed from the Fort Smith metro.<\/p>\n
JOB SECTOR NUMBERS<\/strong> Education and Health Services Manufacturing Government Professional and Business Services Leisure and Hospitality (tourism) Mining, Logging, Construction \n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A majority of year-over-year job gains in the Fort Smith metro in August were from the Trade, Transportation,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3092],"tags":[51,120379,897,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-487020","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-fort-smith-metro-jobs","10":"tag-jobs","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115347098430530560","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Following are details on the region\u2019s top seven job categories.
Trade, Transportation, and Utilities
August 2025: 22,100
August 2024: 21,600
The sector posted record employment of 22,700 in November 2022.<\/p>\n
August 2025: 17,800
August 2024: 17,300
The sector first posted record employment of 17,800 the May report.<\/p>\n
August 2025: 18,200
August 2024: 18,100
The sector posted record employment of 29,200 in June 1999.<\/p>\n
August 2025: 11,400
August 2024: 11,700
The sector posted record employment of 15,000 in March 2020.<\/p>\n
August 2025: 10,900
August 2024: 10,600
The sector posted record employment of 12,700 in April 2017.<\/p>\n
August 2025: 9,600
August 2024: 9,400
June 2025 first marked record employment in the sector at 9,800 jobs.<\/p>\n
August 2025: 5,100
August 2024: 5,100
The sector first posted record employment of 7,400 in August 2008.<\/p>\n