Labor Market Pulse · Finance · October 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: Akron, OH MSA — October 2026
Akron finance pay climbs for seniors as broader hiring cools.
Summit County unemployment rose to 3.7% in September even as Controller ($115,000) and FP&A Manager ($127,500) advertised pay kept climbing locally, signaling a split market finance leaders need to plan around.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Summit County unemployment: 3.7% — Up from 3.3% Ohio rate in August
- Ohio jobs lost, September: -5,000 — Statewide monthly decline, Policy Matters Ohio
- CFO turnover rate, national: 18.3% — Highest since pandemic, Crist|Kolder 2026
- Akron avg. hourly wage: $30.49 — vs $33.54 national average, BLS May 2025
Key takeaways
Senior finance pay is rising even as hiring slows.
Controller and FP&A Manager advertised pay both moved up locally ($115,000 and $127,500) despite Akron's flat-to-negative year-to-date employment growth, suggesting employers are bidding up scarce senior finance talent as a way to broaden headcount. This divergence between overall hiring softness and senior-role pay growth is worth tracking into 2027 planning cycles.
Tax Specialist pay is falling locally while rising nationally.
Metro Tax Specialist advertised pay dropped significantly to $54,385 even as the national figure climbed to $69,556, a $15,000 gap that may reflect weaker local demand concentration or a thinner local applicant pool commanding less leverage. Organizations benchmarking this role against national data risk under- or over-shooting local offers by a wide margin.
Billing Specialist pay is climbing despite modest role complexity.
Metro Billing Specialist advertised pay rose significantly to $44,720, closing on the $49,000 national figure, which may signal tightening competition for transactional finance support roles as back-office headcount gets squeezed elsewhere. This pattern often precedes broader wage pressure moving up the finance job ladder.
Manufacturing-linked layoffs remain the metro's structural risk.
Ohio's WARN filings show manufacturing accounted for 23 of 64 notices and over 3,100 affected workers in 2026, and Akron's industrial base keeps the metro more exposed than peer Ohio markets. Finance leaders supporting manufacturing-adjacent business units should factor continued contraction risk into headcount cost forecasts for 2027.
Median advertised pay by role — Akron, OH MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | $98,403 | $115,000 | $120,000 | Moderate increase | $115,420 |
| Senior Accountant | $77,500 | $88,584 | $88,585 | Moderate increase | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst | $69,590 | $83,286 | $88,084 | Stable | $94,646 |
| Billing Specialist | $36,137 | $44,720 | $49,718 | Significant increase | $49,000 |
| Tax Specialist | $33,280 | $54,385 | $74,714 | Significant decline | $69,556 |
| Credit Analyst | $49,799 | $59,486 | $65,000 | Significant increase | $71,397 |
| FP&A Manager | $112,748 | $127,500 | $130,625 | Significant increase | $130,000 |
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
Summit County unemployment ticked up to 3.7% in September while statewide unemployment rose to 3.4% from 3.3%, consistent with Ohio's broader 5,000-job loss that month and a labor force participation rate trailing the national figure by over half a point. Akron's manufacturing-heavy employment base and a local hourly wage average of $30.49 — roughly $3 below the national figure — leave the metro more exposed to the cost pressures and contraction signals showing up in Ohio's 2026 WARN filings, where manufacturing accounts for the largest share of layoff notices statewide.
What it means
Softening local labor demand alongside national finance-specific turnover pressure — CFO turnover projected at 18.3% in 2026, the highest since the pandemic, with 85% of CFOs reporting talent shortages — creates a split market where Finance leaders face thinner external candidate pools for senior roles even as broader headcount growth slows. Rising advertised pay for Controller ($115,000) and FP&A Manager ($127,500) roles locally suggests employers are competing hardest for scarce senior finance talent precisely when close-cycle retention risk is climbing nationally. Consider reviewing retention and succession coverage for Controller and FP&A Manager roles ahead of year-end close and 2027 budget cycles, where vacancy risk now carries more cost than slow hiring.
Looking ahead
Early indicator: Summit County unemployment rose from prior months to 3.7% in September; watch whether October data (releasing late November) shows this stabilizing or continuing upward, which would affect local talent availability for finance support roles.
Emerging pressure point: National CFO turnover at 18.3% and a 37.5% external-hire rate suggest vacancy risk concentrated in senior finance roles; monitor whether Akron-area employers increase use of interim or fractional CFO/Controller arrangements to bridge audit and close-cycle gaps.
Worth watching: Ohio's employment cost index rose 3.4% year-over-year but declined 0.4% in real terms, meaning nominal pay increases are not keeping pace with inflation; track whether this compresses merit budgets for 2027 or shifts compensation toward one-time bonuses.
Potential inflection point: 70% of finance and accounting leaders nationally are increasing contract talent use in H2 2026; watch whether this trend appears in Akron job ad data as a shift from permanent to contract finance postings, which would affect fixed-cost headcount planning.
Sources
- Ohio Department of Job and Family Services — Summit County unemployment rate reached 3.7% in September 2026
- Ohio Capital Journal / Policy Matters Ohio — Ohio shed 5,000 jobs in September 2026
- Crist|Kolder Associates — CFO turnover projected at 18.3% in 2026, highest since pandemic
- MAVI — 85% of CFOs report finance talent shortages affecting operations
- layoffdata.com — Ohio manufacturing WARN notices totaled 23 filings, 3,159 workers in 2026
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Akron average hourly wage of $30.49 vs national $33.54
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.
Free to read and cite with attribution to WageScape. Terms of use.