Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

News Release Information

24-1877-DAL
Friday, September 06, 2024

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (972) 850-4800

Occupational Employment and Wages in Fort Smith — May 2023

Workers in the Fort Smith, AR-OK Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.30 in May 2023, compared to the nationwide average of $31.48, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($44.62), legal ($41.99), and architecture and engineering ($37.74). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($13.23), personal care and service ($14.56), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($14.72). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Fort Smith area included production (12.4 percent), transportation and material moving (12.2 percent), and office and administrative support (12.0 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.3 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.4 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.6 percent).

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Fort Smith metropolitan area, May 2023
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage ($)
United StatesFort SmithUnited StatesFort Smith

Total, all occupations

100.0100.031.4822.30

Management

6.96.066.2344.62

Business and financial operations

6.63.743.5531.35

Computer and mathematical

3.40.954.3934.50

Architecture and engineering

1.70.747.6437.74

Life, physical, and social science

0.90.442.2431.57

Community and social service

1.61.228.3623.43

Legal

0.80.364.3441.99

Educational instruction and library

5.85.631.9224.26

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.40.636.3120.96

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.16.349.0734.01

Healthcare support

4.74.918.3715.05

Protective service

2.31.927.7420.34

Food preparation and serving related

8.79.016.5813.23

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.92.518.4314.72

Personal care and service

2.01.518.4814.56

Sales and related

8.88.825.6218.66

Office and administrative support

12.212.023.0518.97

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.319.2217.14

Construction and extraction

4.13.729.5721.14

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.95.028.1323.36

Production

5.812.422.9019.52

Transportation and material moving

9.112.222.4520.06

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Fort Smith had 13,230 jobs in production, accounting for 12.4 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $19.52, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers (2,540), first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,110), and inspectors, tests, sorters, samplers, and weighers (690). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and computer numerically controlled tool programmers, with mean hourly wages of $28.28 and $25.40, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were bakers ($13.11) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($13.12). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_22900.htm.)

Location quotients allow us to explore the occupational make-up of a metropolitan area by comparing the composition of jobs in an area relative to the national average. (See table 1.) For example, a location quotient of 2.0 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Fort Smith area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers were employed at 26.2 times the national rate in Fort Smith, and cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders, at 11.4 times the U.S. average. Machinists had a location quotient of 1.1 in Fort Smith, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

The statistics in this release are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support. State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data: in this case, the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services, and the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission.


Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels; and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology are available in the national Technical Notes. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.8 percent based on establishments and 64.3 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Fort Smith, AR-OK Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,622 establishments with a response rate of 73 percent.

Metropolitan area definitions

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The Fort Smith, AR-OK Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Crawford County, AR; Sebastian County, AR; Le Flore County, OK; and Sequoyah County, OK.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for production occupations, Fort Smith metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages ($)
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Production occupations

13,2302.219.5240,610

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

1,1102.428.2858,820

Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers

3902.121.3144,320

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

1002.622.4846,760

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

1,2101.216.9835,320

Bakers

1100.713.1127,280

Butchers and meat cutters

800.815.6432,530

Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers

2,54026.216.2333,750

Slaughterers and meat packers

601.318.7538,990

Food batchmakers

4103.419.1539,820

Food processing workers, all other

2505.718.0837,600

Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

501.219.1839,900

Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

1401.118.9739,470

Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

1001.923.0848,000

Machinists

2201.120.9643,590

Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders

805.7(5)(5)

Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

2202.017.4436,280

Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

1201.319.0139,550

Tool and die makers

401.021.7445,230

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

4901.721.5644,840

Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders

401.620.3642,340

Tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners

307.316.4534,210

Printing press operators

1901.824.1550,240

Print binding and finishing workers

401.416.7734,870

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

1901.513.1227,290

Sewing machine operators

1101.414.9331,050

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

1001.7(5)(5)

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

501.815.2631,740

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

902.216.8435,030

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

2202.719.3640,260

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

500.622.2046,180

Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders

502.518.6238,730

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

901.318.6038,690

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

2506.921.5644,850

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

6901.719.5940,740

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

6102.418.2737,990

Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders

1401.319.7241,020

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

3402.623.6249,130

Computer numerically controlled tool programmers

301.725.4052,820

Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders

12011.419.0339,590

Cooling and freezing equipment operators and tenders

409.120.5642,750

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic

301.118.4738,410

Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders

2704.019.0539,620

Helpers--production workers

5003.917.8237,070

Production workers, all other

2801.618.0237,480

(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Fort Smith, AR-OK Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_22900.htm.
(2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers.
(3) The location quotient is the ratio of the area concentration of occupational employment to the national average concentration. A location quotient greater than one indicates the occupation has a higher share of employment than average, and a location quotient less than one indicates the occupation is less prevalent in the area than average.
(4) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a 'year-round, full-time' hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data.
(5) Estimate not released.

 

Last Modified Date: Friday, September 06, 2024