Software quality assurance analysts and testers 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.
Industries associated with Software quality assurance analysts and testers in Arkansas showed broad gains in January to March 2026. Employment in these industries rose 0.1% year over year, compared with a 0.3% decline nationally. The number of establishments rose 3.2% year over year, compared with a 2.5% increase nationally. Average weekly wages across these industries rose 9.5% year over year, compared with a 4.4% increase nationally.
BLS QCEW data for January to March 2026 covers at least 78.13% of the published industry mix for Software quality assurance analysts and testers in Arkansas. These are weighted industry-level signals, not direct measures of Software quality assurance analysts and testers jobs, current openings, or pay.
Limited local data: at least one local trend covers only 78.13% of this occupation's industry mix. These figures describe the industries with published data. Read each trend alongside its state data coverage.
Limited industry data for software quality assurance analysts and testers in Arkansas
In early 2026, employment in the available industry data was up 0.1% from a year earlier, compared with a 0.3% decline nationwide.
These are industry-wide trends, not a count of jobs in this occupation or current openings.
BLS QCEW sourceMethodologyNational Software quality assurance analysts and testers report
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 Oct 30, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.
+0.1%Industry employmentU.S. -0.3%State data coverage: 78.13%
+3.2%EstablishmentsU.S. +2.5%State data coverage: 78.13%
+9.5%Avg. weekly industry wageU.S. +4.4%State data coverage: 82.61%
37,568Represented establishmentsEstablishments in the industries that employ this occupation, not employers hiring itIndustry mix share 82.2%, separate from the data coverage on the trend cards
Industry employment change over time
Year-over-year change for the industries that employ Software quality assurance analysts and testers 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 | +0.7% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | +0.8% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | +1.9% Below coverage floor | 82.61% |
| 2025 Q2 | +1.3% | 100% |
| 2025 Q3 | +1.0% | 100% |
| 2025 Q4 | +0.6% | 100% |
| 2026 Q1 | +0.1% Below coverage floor | 78.13% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional and business services | 52.0% | +0.3% | 24,615 | $2,553 |
| Information | 16.7% | Not published | 2,197 | $1,766 |
| Financial activities | 13.5% | +0.8% | 10,756 | $1,882 |
| Manufacturing | 8.6% | -2.3% | 2,705 | $1,261 |
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 4.5% | Not published | 23,346 | $1,149 |
| Private education and health services | 2.8% | +1.3% | 14,805 | $1,064 |
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
- Software quality assurance analysts and testers
- SOC code
- 15-1253
- State
- Arkansas
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- +0.1%State data coverage 78.13%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- -0.3%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- +0.4 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
- +3.2%State data coverage 78.13%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +9.5%State data coverage 82.61%
- 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/software-quality-assurance-analysts-and-testers/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 Software quality assurance analysts and testers work
Across 3 research exposure measures, Software quality assurance analysts and testers is in the higher 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 higher 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): 0.88 of 1, national percentile 98 (higher third)
- Microsoft AI applicability: 0.33 of 1, national percentile 93 (higher third)
- OECD AI Capability Gap (lower gap = higher potential exposure): gap 1.7 of 23, national percentile 77 (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 0.20 (demand 3.20 of 5)
- Social interaction: gap 0.75 (demand 2.75 of 5)
- Problem solving: gap 0.95 (demand 2.95 of 5)
- Creativity: gap 0.00 (demand 2.00 of 5)
- Metacognition & critical thinking: gap 1.05 (demand 3.05 of 5)
- Knowledge, learning & memory: gap 0.00 (demand 3.00 of 5)
- Vision: gap 0.00 (demand 0.50 of 5)
- Manipulation: gap 0.00 (demand 0.00 of 5)
- Robotic intelligence: gap 0.00 (demand 0.00 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 Software quality assurance analysts and testers 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; 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 Software quality assurance analysts and testers. These figures describe the industries that employ Software quality assurance analysts and testers; 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 Software quality assurance analysts and testers report and about the data.
Related occupations
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Software quality assurance analysts and testers in other states
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