Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Hot Springs, AR MSA · October 2026
Every advertised-pay, job-posting and industry figure in this briefing comes from WageScape's own database of active job postings. The sources below back the external facts cited in the written analysis.
Sources cited in this report
Key Indicators
Arkansas statewide unemployment at 3.9%, national at 4.1%
Arkansas Department of Commerce / BLS — State and national unemployment comparison, August 2026
This Month's Takeaways
National average hourly earnings up 3.0% vs 3.4% inflation
Bureau of Labor Statistics — September 2026 employment situation report, real earnings
National government payrolls down 216,000 over past year
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National nonfarm payroll sector breakdown, September 2026
Local Economic Conditions
Hot Springs MSA unemployment at 4.2%, highest among Arkansas metros
Arkansas Economist / BLS — Metro unemployment comparison across Arkansas MSAs
Garland County average weekly wage of $946 vs Arkansas $1,291
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — County Employment and Wages (QCEW) Q1 2026
Looking Ahead
Arkansas labor force participation at 59.1%, down 0.1pt in August
Arkansas Department of Commerce — State labor force participation trend, August 2026
How the numbers are calculated
- Advertised pay is the median of the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro. It is not survey or payroll data.
- Percent changes compare the latest six full months with the six months before that, for the same metro and sector.
- Sectors group postings by the employer's industry (NAICS) classification into ten sectors. Where a metro has too few postings in a sector, the state figure is used instead.
- Role pay trends use the same comparison windows. "Stable" means a change of less than 3%; "moderate" 3–10%; "significant" more than 10%.
Official data for comparison