Labor Market Pulse · Restaurant Industry · October 2026
Restaurant Industry Labor Market Report: Texarkana, TX-Texarkana, AR MSA — October 2026
Texarkana labor tightens while restaurant pay trails the nation.
Metro unemployment fell to 4.5% in August while Restaurant Manager/GM pay advertises at $49,346 against a $59,724 national figure, leaving a gap that may narrow operators' room as the local labor pool shrinks.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Texarkana metro unemployment: 4.5% — Down from 4.8% in July 2026
- Texas leisure/hospitality jobs: -1,700 — October 2026 statewide decline
- GM/Restaurant Manager pay gap: $49,346 vs $59,724 — Metro vs. national median, GM/Manager
- Texas operators citing rising labor costs: 77% — H1 2026, up from 66% in Q3 2025
Key takeaways
Metro pay sits well under national lines across every role.
Restaurant Manager/GM advertises at $49,346 locally versus $59,724 nationally, and Line Cook trails by over $8,000. A gap this wide suggests Texarkana operators compete on cost of living and local labor supply, but it also narrows the cushion before talent drifts toward Dallas-area or remote-commutable markets.
Falling local unemployment is tightening the hiring runway.
Metro unemployment dropped from 4.8% to 4.5% between July and August while employment growth outpaced labor force growth more than two-to-one. Fewer available workers chasing open shifts typically shows up first in overtime and incentive costs before it shows up in posted base pay.
Back-of-house hiring difficulty is likely understating itself in ad data.
Statewide, cooks, porters and delivery drivers lead hiring need, and BLS projects 12% cook employment growth through 2035 against 2% for servers — a wide demand asymmetry. Job ads for these roles, a signal of hiring demand where one ad often covers several openings, likely understate the true scale of back-of-house staffing gaps in this metro.
The 80/20 rule repeal changes the FOH cost equation.
Operators can now assign more non-tip-producing duties to tipped staff without the prior 20% cap, reducing direct wage exposure during slow periods. That flexibility addresses labor cost as a share of revenue but does nothing to solve the retention and fill-rate pressure driving the underlying shortage.
Median advertised pay by role — Texarkana, TX-Texarkana, AR MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assistant Restaurant Manager | $26,050 | $35,214 | $38,762 | Moderate decline | $39,211 |
| Catering Manager * | $35,334 | $51,994 | $56,706 | Stable | $50,076 |
| Crew | $23,400 | $25,017 | $29,220 | Stable | $30,066 |
| Line Cook | $26,594 | $29,131 | $30,886 | Stable | $37,421 |
| Restaurant Manager/General Manager | $40,103 | $49,346 | $55,393 | Moderate decline | $59,724 |
| Server | $25,674 | $28,427 | $33,105 | Stable | $35,024 |
| Shift Manager | $26,929 | $29,300 | $30,487 | Stable | $33,024 |
* State-level figure shown where metro postings were too few.
WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings (reported as the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay). Download: CSV · JSON
Local market conditions
Texarkana metro unemployment eased to 4.5% in August from 4.8% in July, with employment growth of 555 workers outpacing labor force growth of 250 since January — a tightening signal even as the rate sits above the 4.2% national mark. Statewide, leisure and hospitality employment fell 1,700 positions in October, suggesting Q4 seasonal hiring has not yet offset the industry's structurally high turnover across this corner of Texas and Arkansas.
What it means
Metro advertised pay for core restaurant roles — Line Cook at $29,131, Server at $28,427, Restaurant Manager/GM at $49,346 — sits meaningfully below national medians, while Texas operators statewide report labor costs rising 6-14% despite flat ad rates locally, pointing to pressure from overtime, shift premiums, and turnover-driven rehiring as the likely drivers behind base pay staying flat. Federal withdrawal of the 80/20 tipped-wage rule gives Texas operators room to assign more non-tipped side work without raising guaranteed cash wages, a lever metro operators facing a declining Restaurant Manager/GM rate (down, moderate) may want to use before pulling base pay further. Consider reviewing shift-level and overtime cost data alongside advertised rates to confirm that labor cost growth is a scheduling and turnover problem.
Looking ahead
Expected: September's Texarkana labor force figure (62,108) and October metro unemployment data should post in early November — watch whether the tightening trend from July-August holds into Q4 seasonal staffing season.
Emerging pressure point: Texas leisure and hospitality lost 1,700 jobs in October statewide even as metro unemployment fell, a mismatch worth tracking locally; if Texarkana mirrors the state pattern, Q4 seasonal hiring plans may need to lean harder on retention of existing staff than new recruitment.
Worth watching: Advertised pay for Restaurant Manager/GM and Assistant Manager roles is trending down locally even as statewide labor costs climb 6-14% for most operators — a divergence that may signal operators are managing cost pressure through scheduling and overtime control ahead of adjustments to management compensation.
Potential inflection point: Texas restaurant leaders are pushing Congress on work permit expansion for immigrant labor; any movement here would directly affect entry-level back-of-house pipeline depth in a metro already showing tighter labor supply than the state average.
Sources
- Texarkana Workforce Development/NETX Workforce — Texarkana metro unemployment eased to 4.5% in August from 4.8% in July
- Texas Workforce Commission — Texas leisure and hospitality employment declined 1,700 positions in October 2026
- U.S. Department of Labor — DOL withdrew the 80/20 tipped-wage rule in October 2026
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — BLS projects cooks to grow 12% from 2025-2035 versus 2% for waiters
- Texas Restaurant Association — 77% of Texas restaurant operators reported labor cost increases in H1 2026
- Texas Restaurant Association — Texas restaurant leaders urging Congress on immigrant work permits
Methodology
Advertised pay from active employer job postings, not survey data. WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings: distribution analysis shows roughly the lowest 10% of raw values are erroneous entries, so the reported median is the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay. WageScape observes 98% of U.S. job openings daily.
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