According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provisional estimates, in July 2003 the seasonally adjusted civilian labor force in Arkansas numbered 1,303,700, with approximately 71,100 workers unemployed, yielding an unemployment rate of 5.5%, compared to the national average of 6.2% for the same period. Since the beginning of the BLS data series in 1978, the highest unemployment rate recorded was 10.5% in February 1983. The historical low was 4.2% in November 1999. In 2001, an estimated 4.4% of the labor force was employed in construction; 16.9% in manufacturing; 5.6% in transportation, communications, and public utilities; 20.2% in trade; 4.8% in finance, insurance, and real estate; 20.6% in services; 16.3% in government; and 3.3% in agriculture.
Chartered in 1865, the Little Rock Typographical Union, consisting of Arkansas Gazette employees, was the first labor union in the state. The United Mine Workers was established in the Ft. Smith area by 1898; six years later, the UMW led in the founding of the Arkansas Federation of Labor. Between 1904 and World War I (1914–18), a series of progressive labor laws was enacted, including a minimum wage, restrictions on child labor, and prohibitions against blacklisting and payment of wages in scrip. Union strength waned after the war, however, and the labor movement is not a powerful force in the state today.
The US Department of Labor reported that in 2002, 63,000 of Arkansas's 1,064,000 employed wage and salary workers were members of unions. This represented 5.9% of those so employed, up from 6.3% in 2001. The national average is 13.2%. In all, 73,000 workers (6.8%) were represented by unions. In addition to union members, this category includes workers who report no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union contract. Arkansas is one of 22 states with a right-to-work law.