Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Albany, GA MSA — September 2026
Albany's jobless rate lags Georgia's record-low momentum.
Albany MSA unemployment held at 3.9% in July versus Georgia's statewide 3.2% and a national 4.2%, with Dougherty County running hotter at 4.6% even as healthcare employment and Registered Nurse pay keep rising.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Albany MSA unemployment: 3.9% — vs Georgia 3.2%, national 4.2% (July 2026)
- Dougherty County unemployment: 4.6% — vs Lee County 2.7% in same MSA
- Georgia labor force: 5,490,319 — All-time state high, August 2026
- National wage growth vs inflation: 3.0% vs 3.4% — Weakest wage-inflation gap since May 2021
Key takeaways
Albany's jobless rate gap with Georgia is widening, not closing.
Metro unemployment sat at 3.9% in July against a statewide 3.2%, and Dougherty County alone ran at 4.6% — nearly a full point above the national rate. That divergence suggests Albany's labor market is not fully participating in Georgia's record employment expansion.
Pay softness is broader than any single sector here.
Locally advertised pay fell for roles spanning administrative work, business analysis, customer service, electricians and manufacturing — a cross-sector pattern rather than one industry's weakness. That breadth is more consistent with soft local demand than with a sector-specific disruption.
Healthcare is the one visible anchor of stability.
Health Care & Social Assistance remains Dougherty County's largest employment category and Registered Nurse pay rose significantly both locally and nationally, consistent with the sector's statewide role adding 19,100 jobs over the year. Commerce leaders assessing which parts of the local economy are genuinely resilient should treat healthcare employment as the most dependable baseline, not a bellwether for broader momentum.
County-level data tells a sharper story than the metro average.
Lee County's 2.7% unemployment against Dougherty's 4.6% shows an uneven recovery within the same MSA. Economic development framing built on the metro-wide figure risks masking where labor availability and consumer capacity actually sit.
Median advertised pay by role — Albany, GA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $21,785 | $27,040 | $28,277 | Moderate increase | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $21,719 | $24,631 | $25,885 | Stable | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $29,706 | $33,280 | $35,763 | Moderate decline | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $63,431 | $83,200 | $91,000 | Moderate increase | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $26,252 | $31,755 | $33,738 | Significant decline | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $30,432 | $33,542 | $33,542 | Stable | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $54,384 | $66,878 | $70,614 | Significant decline | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $28,913 | $33,280 | $40,992 | Moderate decline | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $31,484 | $37,856 | $37,856 | Significant decline | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $24,283 | $27,361 | $38,516 | Moderate increase | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $28,080 | $35,256 | $42,819 | Stable | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $33,034 | $38,321 | $38,480 | Moderate decline | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician | $55,863 | $62,338 | $80,000 | Significant increase | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $85,611 | $104,676 | $114,117 | Significant increase | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer * | $113,828 | $151,646 | $165,000 | Moderate increase | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer | $124,000 | $126,254 | $131,524 | Moderate decline | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $50,558 | $66,584 | $82,503 | Stable | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst * | $66,944 | $90,889 | $98,907 | Stable | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager * | $54,965 | $68,969 | $80,668 | Moderate increase | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist * | $46,361 | $59,253 | $70,614 | Stable | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager * | $65,000 | $81,400 | $91,730 | Moderate increase | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $26,000 | $41,604 | $51,194 | Moderate decline | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $70,000 | $87,500 | $90,000 | Significant increase | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $54,937 | $80,500 | $99,000 | Moderate increase | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $64,313 | $70,950 | $74,853 | Significant decline | $98,279 |
* 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
Industry snapshot
| Sector | Median advertised pay | Pay trend | Postings trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | $67,812 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $65,297 | Significant decline | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $34,365 | Moderate decline | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $80,379 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Information | $73,781 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $50,704 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $89,168 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $90,229 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $25,471 | Significant decline | Significant increase |
| Government | $67,687 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Albany MSA unemployment held at 3.9% through July 2026, well below the national rate of 4.2% but higher than Georgia's statewide 3.2%, with Dougherty County at 4.6% pulling the metro average upward against much tighter conditions in neighboring Lee County at 2.7%. Health Care & Social Assistance remains the metro's largest employment base at 5,278 workers in Dougherty County, mirroring the statewide pattern where health care led all sectors in annual job gains even as national data show government and professional-services employment contracting.
What it means
Albany's unemployment gap relative to Georgia overall, combined with wage-vs-inflation figures showing several locally advertised pay levels declining (Administrative Assistant, Business Analyst, Customer Service Representative) while national counterparts hold stable or rise, points to a metro economy where purchasing power pressure is more acute than the state or national picture suggests. For commerce leaders evaluating expansion or investment timing, the combination of available labor supply in Dougherty County and below-national wage growth may represent a window of comparatively lower labor cost pressure, though it also signals softer local consumer spending capacity. Consider monitoring Dougherty County's unemployment trajectory alongside Lee County's tighter labor conditions as a gauge of whether metro-wide economic momentum is broadening or remaining concentrated in surrounding counties.
Looking ahead
Expected: BLS is due to release official August and September Albany MSA unemployment figures in late October or early November; watch whether Dougherty County's gap to the state average narrows or widens.
Emerging pressure point: National wage growth has slipped to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation, the weakest since May 2021. If that gap persists, watch whether Albany's own wage-vs-inflation dynamic — already showing declines in several advertised pay categories — further erodes local consumer spending capacity.
Worth watching: Georgia's federal government payrolls were down 9,400 jobs year-over-year statewide; any ripple into Albany's public-sector employment, a traditionally stable anchor locally, would be a meaningful shift worth tracking in upcoming county data.
Potential inflection point: National WARN filings remain below 2025 levels and Georgia's own filings dropped from 33 to 17 quarter-over-quarter, suggesting layoff risk is receding nationally. Whether that stability extends to Albany's manufacturing base, given P&G's continued local hiring, will be a useful test of metro-level durability.
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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