Industrial employment in Arkansas fell 7.3% over the past twenty-four months according to the 2010 Arkansas Manufacturers Register published annually by Manufacturers' News, of Evanston, IL.

Arkansas lost 16,587 manufacturing jobs over the past two years, with 3,178 jobs lost between September 2007 and September 2008 and 13,409 industrial jobs from 2008 to September of this year.

Manufacturers' News reports Arkansas is now home to 3,860 manufacturers employing 212,213 workers, compared to a high of 269,815 industrial workers recorded by MNI in 2001.

Manufacturing jobs have declined steadily in the state since 2001, dropping 57,602 jobs or 21.3%. The loss of nearly 13,407 manufacturing jobs marks the sharpest decline MNI has ever reported in the fourteen years it has been tracking the state's industry, and represents 23% of all industrial jobs lost since 2001.

Employment in the furniture/fixtures sector saw one of the sharpest declines, down 15.9% over the past twenty-four months.

Arkansas' top manufacturing sector remains food products with nearly a quarter of the state's industrial employment, or 52,531 jobs, down 4.1% over the past 24 months, due partially to the closures of Pilgrim's Pride and Petit Jean poultry processing plants.