Median annual wage
$44,570ArkansasInspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers job market in Arkansas
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
Data availability
Published industry context is limited
The report below shows the available evidence. Missing figures are not estimated.
Occupation pay
What Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers earn in Arkansas
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
- Middle 50% of published wages
- $37,650 – $51,660
- U.S. median annual wage
- $48,570
- Reference period
- May 2025
The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.
Pay around Arkansas
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers, compared with the Arkansas median of $44,570.
Arkansas median$44,570
Jonesboro, AR$49,560+11.2% vs. state
Texarkana, TX-AR$49,070+10.1% vs. state
Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR$48,360+8.5% vs. state
Hot Springs, AR$46,560+4.5% vs. state
Memphis, TN-MS-AR$44,910+0.8% vs. state
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR$41,570−6.7% vs. state
View 1 more published metro area
Fort Smith, AR-OK$41,440−7.0% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Arkansas median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.
Limited local data: at least one local trend covers only 84.75% of this occupation's industry mix. These figures describe the industries with published data. Read each trend alongside its state data coverage.
Local research
What the data shows for inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers in Arkansas
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.
The highest-paying metro has a smaller employment market
The largest metro employment market in this Arkansas comparison is Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR, with 1,130 estimated jobs and median annual pay of $41,570 in OEWS May 2025. Jonesboro, AR has the highest median pay, $49,560, alongside an employment estimate of 210. Among 5 metros with both usable measures, its median pay is 19.2% higher than the largest market's. The employment estimates describe existing jobs, not available vacancies.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSSome metro estimates cross state lines. Higher nominal pay does not establish better living standards or better chances of finding a job.
Published median pay is below the U.S. median
A 8.2% difference separates Arkansas's median annual wage for inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers from the U.S. median in OEWS May 2025. At $44,570, the state median is below the national figure of $48,570. The estimates describe the middle of each wage distribution, without a living-cost adjustment.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSFindings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology
Indeed job postings · Arkansas
Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score
116.4Postings index · February 1, 2020 = 100Observation: Oct 23, 2026
+16.4%Versus the February 2020 baseline
+1.8%Change over about four weeksSep 25, 2026 to Oct 23, 2026
This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.
-1.7%Industry employmentU.S. -1.0%State data coverage: 84.75%
-4.6%EstablishmentsU.S. +1.5%State data coverage: 84.75%
+7.3%Avg. weekly industry wageU.S. +5.1%State data coverage: 97.06%
27,320Represented establishmentsEstablishments in the industries that employ this occupation, not employers hiring itIndustry mix share 82.8%, separate from the data coverage on the trend cards
Industry employment change over time
Year-over-year change for the industries that employ Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers in Arkansas · percentage change
Year-over-year employment change (%) by reference quarter
Latest published values
- Arkansas · 2026 Q1Not published
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
Every published quarter
BLS does not publish a national quarterly series for this occupation’s industry mix, so only the Arkansas series is shown. The U.S. figure on the cards above is the latest quarter benchmark.
| Quarter | Arkansas | State data coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | +0.2% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | +0.5% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | +0.2% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | +0.1% | 97.06% |
| 2025 Q2 | -0.4% | 100% |
| 2025 Q3 | -1.1% | 100% |
| 2025 Q4 | -1.3% | 100% |
| 2026 Q1 | -1.7% Below coverage floor | 84.75% |
Industry mix behind this view
Which industries are weighted into this view. Not a ranking of employers or of job quality.
| Industry group | Share of occupation employment | Local employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 64.4% | -2.3% | 2,705 | $1,261 |
| Professional and business services | 18.4% | +0.3% | 24,615 | $2,553 |
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 11.5% | Not published | 23,346 | $1,149 |
| Other services | 1.4% | Not published | 6,972 | $947 |
| Construction | 1.2% | Not published | 8,873 | $1,275 |
| Mining and logging | 0.8% | Not published | 721 | $1,311 |
The publication date above is the official BLS news release date for this reference quarter, linked to the notice. The values match the snapshot independently checked against BLS sources on September 17, 2026. The publication date identifies the quarterly news release, not the exact revision date. The data period above is the quarter the figures describe.
QCEW describes the industries that employ this occupation, not the occupation itself. It is not a count of job openings and is not part of the 0-100 Job Market Health score.
Evidence record
Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.
- Occupation
- Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers
- SOC code
- 51-9061
- State
- Arkansas
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- -1.7%State data coverage 84.75%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- -1.0%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- -0.7 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
- Establishments, year over year
- -4.6%State data coverage 84.75%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +7.3%State data coverage 97.06%
- Industry mix vintage
- EP-2025-2035
- BLS publication date
- Aug 28, 2026
- Source verification
- Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
- Canonical record URL
- https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/inspectors-testers-sorters-samplers-and-weighers/arkansas#evidence-record
- Derived by
- JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix
MethodologyBLS QCEWHow to citeQCEW state context release, 2026 Q1
AI & this occupation
How AI relates to Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers work
Across 4 research exposure measures, Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers is in the middle technical AI exposure band based on the mean of the available source-specific percentile ranks. Exposure describes how much of the work the studied AI capabilities could technically assist with; it is not a forecast of job loss.
Observed use of Claude for this occupation's tasks is in the middle third of occupations in the Anthropic Economic Index, a dated observed task-exposure benchmark, not conversation share or the share of workers using AI. Its observation window is not recorded in this saved release.
JobMarketHealth has not measured an AI effect on this occupation's employment or wages, and these figures do not enter its scores; there is no clear evidence of displacement in the data shown here.
Exposure measures (kept separate)
- GPTs are GPTs exposure (β, GPT-4 rated): 0.42 of 1, national percentile 62 (middle third)
- Microsoft AI applicability: 0.09 of 1, national percentile 32 (lower third)
- AIOE (Felten, Raj & Seamans): -0.03 (standardized), national percentile 51 (middle third)
- OECD AI Capability Gap (lower gap = higher potential exposure): gap 0.8 of 23, national percentile 91 (higher third)
OECD capability gap by domain
As published by the OECD: the gap between what the occupation demands (0-5) and current AI capability in each domain. A lower gap means AI is closer to the requirement (higher potential exposure); 0 means AI already meets it or the domain is not relevant.
- Language: gap 0.00 (demand 2.50 of 5)
- Social interaction: gap 0.00 (demand 1.75 of 5)
- Problem solving: gap 0.15 (demand 2.15 of 5)
- Creativity: gap 0.00 (demand 1.00 of 5)
- Metacognition & critical thinking: gap 0.05 (demand 2.05 of 5)
- Knowledge, learning & memory: gap 0.00 (demand 2.35 of 5)
- Vision: gap 0.80 (demand 3.80 of 5)
- Manipulation: gap 0.75 (demand 2.75 of 5)
- Robotic intelligence: gap 0.15 (demand 2.15 of 5)
National context: what businesses used generative AI for
From the Census 2025-26 BTOS AI Supplement (all industries; businesses whose employees used generative AI). Census did not measure Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers specifically.
- Writing or editing documents, emails, or communications: 85.4%
- Searching for information or technical help: 49.9%
- Interpreting, analyzing, translating, or summarizing documents: 44.6%
- Information processing, paperwork, or filing: 34.7%
Arkansas context
In the Census BTOS core AI-use question, an estimated 17.7% of Arkansas employer businesses reported using AI in the two weeks ending 2026-10-04 (U.S.: 24.6%).
Separately, the one-time 2025-26 BTOS AI Supplement (collected 2025-11-17 to 2026-02-08) found 11.7% of Arkansas businesses using AI at that time, and 15.0% reporting that employees used generative AI for work tasks in the prior six months. It describes how AI was being used then, not a trend.
Using each occupation's exposure band and Arkansas employment weights (OEWS May 2025), 26.1% of covered jobs are in occupations in the higher-exposure band. This describes the state's occupation mix, not a measured AI effect.
Exposure and observed usage are separate measures and neither equals job loss. Census BTOS figures are business-level surveys and are not occupation-specific. Sources: GPTs are GPTs occupation exposure; Microsoft Working with AI: AI applicability; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE); OECD AI Exposure Measure (AI Capability Gap); Anthropic Economic Index; Census BTOS Core AI Use; Census BTOS AI Supplement 2025-26. These figures do not affect Job Market Health scores. Explore AI & Jobs · How we use AI data.
How to read this page
QCEW measures employment and wages by industry, not by occupation. We weight those industry conditions using the published industry mix for Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers. These figures describe the industries that employ Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers; they are not direct counts of people working in the occupation or of jobs currently open. This page is not part of the national 0 to 100 Job Market Health score.
Source: BLS QCEW. See the methodology, the national Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers report and about the data.
Related occupations
Compare Arkansas with other statesPublished industry employment, business locations and average weekly industry wages for up to three states, with the national benchmark in percentage points.
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers in other states
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