Arkansas: Exports, Jobs, and Foreign Investment

Exports Support Jobs for Arkansas Workers

Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 5.0 percent of Arkansas total private-sector employment. One-ninth (10.7 percent) of all manufacturing workers in Arkansas depend on exports for their jobs. (2006 data are the latest available.)

Note: Export-related employment data shown do not include manufacturing and non-manufacturing jobs involved in the export of non-manufactured goods, such as farm products, minerals, and services sold to foreign buyers. Indirect exports exclude imported items. The complete 2006 export-related employment series is available on our Export Related Jobs pages. Additional information on methodology used in the export-related employment series can be found in the U.S. Census Bureau's publication Exports from Manufacturing Establishments: 2006.

Source: State Export-Related Employment Project, International Trade Administration and Bureau of the Census.

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Exports Sustain More Than a Thousand Arkansas Businesses

A total of 1,383 companies exported goods from Arkansas locations in 2006. Of those, 1,048 (76 percent) were small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.

Small and medium-sized firms generated nearly one-sixth (16 percent) of Arkansas' total exports of merchandise in 2006.

Source: International Trade Administration and Bureau of the Census, Foreign Trade Division: Exporter Database.

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Foreign Investment Creates Jobs in Arkansas

In 2006, foreign-controlled companies employed 33,700 workers in Arkansas. Major sources of foreign investment in Arkansas in 2006 were the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Canada, and Switzerland.

More than half of these jobs (56 percent, or 18,900 workers) were in the manufacturing sector in 2006.

Foreign-controlled companies accounted for 9.4 percent of total manufacturing employment in Arkansas in 2006.

Foreign investment in Arkansas was responsible for 3.3 percent of the state's total private industry employment in 2006.

Note: All figures exclude employment in banks affiliated with foreign companies.

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis.

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Arkansas Depends on World Markets

Arkansas' export shipments of merchandise in 2007 totaled $4.9 billion. This is an increase of 65 percent, or $1.9 billion, over the 2003 value of $3.0 billion.

Arkansas exported globally to 159 foreign destinations in 2007. The state's largest export markets were the NAFTA nations of Canada ($1.2 billion in 2007 exports) and Mexico ($540 million in exports). These two nations accounted for 36 percent of the state's 2007 total. Other top markets included China ($307 million), France ($214 million) and the United Kingdom ($192 million).

The state's leading export category is transportation equipment, which alone accounted for 27 percent, or $1.3 billion, of Arkansas' total merchandise exports in 2007. Other top exports in 2007 were processed foods ($605 million), chemical manufactures ($563 million), and machinery manufactures ($510 million).

Source: Revised Origin of Movement State Export Series, Bureau of the Census, Foreign Trade Division.

Caution: The Origin of Movement series allocates exports to states based on transportation origin, i.e., the state from which goods began their journey to the port (or other point) of exit from the United States. The transportation origin of exports is not always the same as the location where the goods were produced. Consequently, conclusions about "export production" in a state should not be made solely on the basis of the Origin of Movement state export figures.

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Arkansas' Metropolitan Exports

In the first half of 2007, the metropolitan area of Little Rock-North Little Rock exported $619 million in merchandise, 30 percent of Arkansas' total merchandise exports. Other major metropolitan areas in Arkansas that exported in the first half of 2007 included some counties from neighboring states. Memphis (which includes some counties from Tennessee and Mississippi) exported $3.9 billion, while Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers (which includes some counties of Missouri) exported $467 million in merchandise in the first half of 2007.

Source: International Trade Administration and Bureau of the Census, Foreign Trade Division: Metropolitan Export Series.

Caution: The Origin of Movement zip-based series allocates exports to metropolitan areas based on transportation origin, i.e., the metropolitan area from which goods began their journey to the port (or other point) of exit from the United States. The transportation origin of exports is not always the same as the location where the goods were produced. Consequently, conclusions about "export production" in a metropolitan area should not be made solely on the basis of the Origin of Movement zip-based export figures.

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