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 2008 totaled $5.8 billion. This is an increase of 66 percent, or $2.3 billion, over the 2004 value of $3.5 billion.

The state's largest export markets were Canada ($1.2 billion in 2008 exports) and Mexico ($796 million in exports). Other top markets included China ($321 million), Switzerland ($259 million) and Japan ($198 million).

The state's leading export category is transportation equipment, which alone accounted for 28 percent, or $1.6 billion, of Arkansas' total merchandise exports in 2008. Other top exports in 2008 were chemical manufactures ($762 million); food and kindred products ($695 million); and machinery, except electrical($572 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 2007, the metropolitan area of Little Rock-North Little Rock exported $1.3 billion in merchandise, 30 percent of Arkansas' total merchandise exports. Other major metropolitan areas in Arkansas that exported in 2007 included some counties from neighboring states. Memphis (which includes some counties from Tennessee and Mississippi) exported $8.1 billion, while Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers (which includes some counties of Missouri) exported $957 million in merchandise in 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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