Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Jonesboro, 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
Jonesboro MSA nonfarm jobs reached record 65,500 in December 2025
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Metro area employment statistics
This Month's Takeaways
Arkansas unemployment at 3.9% vs national rate, inflation-adjusted wage decline
Arkansas Department of Commerce / USA Facts — State labor market report and real wage data
Local Economic Conditions
Jonesboro MSA unemployment rate and nonfarm job count for August 2026
Talk Business & Politics — Reporting on BLS preliminary metro labor force data
National payroll growth slowed to 29,000 in September 2026
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — National employment situation report
Looking Ahead
National real wage growth turned negative, lowest since May 2021
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National wage and CPI comparison data
Arkansas labor force participation rate trend at 59.1%
Arkansas Division of Workforce Services — Monthly labor market report
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