America's Skilled Trades Dashboard
Explorer

All trades in Arkansas

Demand pressure65
Projected growth
64
Recent growth
76
Occupation mix
58
Wage path
62
Supply position51
Counted entrants
68
Training throughput
43
Age of workforce
68
Migration pull
26
Borderline · Arkansas is within a few places of the middle state on at least one of the two indexes, so it does not fall clearly into either group.

Workforce

An overview of Arkansas's skilled trades workforce. Dots show where Arkansas sits among all states for this work; the line is the national figure or the median state, and the shaded band covers the middle half of states.
Workers
188k
+6% since 2019
20192025
21ktick is median state1.81M
Employment growth▲ 3.7% vs US
6.2%
2019 to 2025, up 11k workers
-7.6%tick is national22.6%
Aged 55 and over▼ 1% vs US
23%
Share of the current workforce aged 55+
18%tick is national32%
Under 25▲ 1% vs US
12%
Share of the current workforce aged under 25
4%tick is national18%
Five-year retention▲ 2% vs US
61%
Share of entrants working in any skilled trade five years later
50%tick is national70%
Part-time share▼ 1.2% vs US
7.3%
Economy-wide rate: 20.5% (trades nationally 8.5%)
5.7%tick is national10.8%

Pay

Levels, spread, and growth. OEWS May 2025, with a 2019 to 2025 history.
Median pay▼ $7k vs US
$50k
26.7% since 2019, before inflation
20192025
$50ktick is national$79k
Pay spread▼ $10k vs US
$36–71k
10th to 90th percentile
10th percentile
$36k
Median
$50k
90th percentile
$71k
$30ktick is national$64k
Pay premium over workers with the same education▲ 2.2% vs US
24.1%
Trades workers with a high school diploma against other workers with a high school diploma (ACS 2020–2024)
0.0%tick is national51.0%
Employment growth per year▲ 0.6% vs US
1.0%
Compound annual rate, 2019 to 2025
-1.3%tick is national3.5%

Entry & Training

How people typically enter this work, what exists here to train them, and how often training completes, against the national figure where one is published.
Typical way in▼ 4% vs US
57% trained
Share of this workforce in trades with a structured training route in
Registered apprenticeship
24%
College or CTE credential
33%
On the job training
31%
Open entry
11%
51%tick is national83%
Registered apprentices▲ 157 per 1k vs US
13k
All trades statewide · 256.8 per 1k workers in apprenticeship-route trades
33 per 1ktick is national284 per 1k
Apprenticeship completion
32%
Of pooled FY2021-24 exiters statewide
29%tick is median state68%
College trade-program completion▲ 2% vs US
41%
Degree-granting colleges only · institution cohorts, 30,997 students (IPEDS)
30%tick is national65%

Movement

Where this workforce comes from and where it goes. Click any state to trace it.
Arrive per year
3,625
ACS 2020-2024 annual average
Leave per year
3,805
ACS 2020-2024 annual average
Net per year
−180
Number arriving versus leaving
From abroad per year
459
Arrivals from outside the United States
Net movement rate for trades workers
−0.10%/yr
Net change in number of skilled workers via interstate movement compared with overall trades workforce in the state. The equivalent figure for all workers is +0.12%/yr.
AKALARAZCACOCTDCDEFLGAHIIAIDILINKSKYLAMAMDMEMIMNMOMSMTNCNDNENHNJNMNVNYOHOKORPARISCSDTNTXUTVAVTWAWIWVWY
More leaving   Level   More arriving  · tile shade is each state's net movement.
Selected
Arkansas
All trades · movement of trades workers per year
3,625
arrived
3,805
left
−180
net

Growth

Where this work is heading: projected change.
Projected employment change▲ 0.4% vs US
5.7%
2024 to 2034, state long-term projections
-2.5%tick is national15.9%
This state against other states
65on demand pressure51on supply position

Supply & Demand

The map shades each state by its demand pressure: projected and realized demand, occupation mix and wage path. The score is an average of their percentiles on each measure compared with other states.

Demand pressure by state

AK
AL
AR
AZ
CA
CO
CT
DC
DE
FL
GA
HI
IA
ID
IL
IN
KS
KY
LA
MA
MD
ME
MI
MN
MO
MS
MT
NC
ND
NE
NH
NJ
NM
NV
NY
OH
OK
OR
PA
RI
SC
SD
TN
TX
UT
VA
VT
WA
WI
WV
WY
highest demand pressure · click a state to inspect it without leaving the page table view
Selected
Arkansas
All trades
65demand pressure
A higher demand pressure score indicates higher demand for skilled trades in this state.
187,560 workers
Projected growth
64
Recent growth
76
Occupation mix
58
Wage path
62

States by demand pressure

State index, a position among the 51
1Florida95
2Arizona93
3Georgia80
4Idaho78
5Tennessee77
6Texas74
7Montana73
8Utah71
9Colorado70
10Mississippi70
11Nevada70
12North Carolina68
The score is an average of the state's percentile positions on each measure - projected and realized demand, occupation mix and wage path - compared with other states, so 80 means high in the ranking, not higher than 80% of other states.

Shortage Pressure

The trades here are ranked on the Burning Glass Institute's Labor Shortage Index, which scores the structural pressure on filling the occupation from nine indicators, including workforce age, new entrants, part-time work, licensing, AI exposure and projected growth. Each occupation is ranked against every other occupation in the same state, so a reading of 90 means more pressure than 90% of occupations in that state. It is a risk score, not a count of unfilled jobs. The worker data come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, and occupations with fewer than 20 survey respondents in a state are not scored.

Trades in Arkansas by shortage pressure

Labor Shortage Index percentile among all occupations scored here
1Locomotive engineers and operators96
2Heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians and mechanics92
3Crane and tower operators91
4Maintenance workers, machinery90
5Industrial and refractory machinery mechanics88
6First-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers86
7Painters and paperhangers86
8Precision instrument and equipment repairers84
9Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters83
10Construction and building inspectors83
11Maintenance and repair workers, general83
12First-line supervisors of production and operating workers78
The score is the trade's Labor Shortage Index percentile among all occupations scored in Arkansas: 90 means more structural pressure on filling it than 90% of them, not more vacancies. 65 of 109 trades scored.