Concentration of STEM Occupations in Arkansas MSAs
Concentration of STEM occupations in Arkansas using Location Quotients
This article makes use of location quotients (LQs) to compare concentrations of STEM occupations in each of the six metropolitan areas in Arkansas. STEM occupations are widespread across industries and include all related jobs in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The location quotient for STEM occupations for a given area is the ratio of the fraction of total jobs in that area in STEM fields to the corresponding fraction at the national level. In May 2020, the fraction of total U.S. jobs in STEM occupations was 6.7 percent.
Location quotients for all six metropolitan areas in Arkansas in May 2020, were less than 1.0 (Graph below). This means the fraction of total jobs in STEM in each of these six areas was less than the nation’s average (6.7 percent). Within the state, the highest concentrations of STEM jobs were found in two areas, Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers and Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway with LQs of 0.9 and 0.8 respectively. The shares of the total jobs in STEM in these two areas were 6.3 and 5.6 percent. This is significant because, these two areas together held about 86% of all the STEM jobs in the state and accounted for the highest paying area for STEM occupations with mean annual wages of $84,020 and $83,410, slightly less than the national mean of $89,780.
Source: Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, Labor Market Information. Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, STEM dataset for May 2020.
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