Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · October 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA — October 2026
Atlanta's workforce hits record highs while job growth stalls.
Metro Atlanta's labor force reached an all-time high of 3,387,001 in September even as total payroll jobs slipped 2,700 year-over-year and unemployment edged up to 3.5%, with healthcare's 15,000-job gain offsetting a 7,600-job decline in professional and technical services.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro labor force: 3,387,001 — All-time high, Sept. 2026
- Metro unemployment rate: 3.5% — Up from 3.4% a year ago; below 4.1% US rate
- Metro payroll jobs: 3,101,900 — Down 2,700 y/y, deemed not statistically significant
- Healthcare vs. prof. services job change: +15,000 / -7,600 — Healthcare gains, professional/technical losses, y/y
Key takeaways
Record labor force growth hasn't yet lifted total payrolls.
Atlanta's labor force and employment counts both set records in September, yet total payroll jobs fell 2,700 year-over-year — a gap the BLS calls statistically insignificant but one that bears watching if it persists. A growing workforce chasing a flat job count is consistent with rising participation outpacing net job creation, a sign that could reflect demand holding steady.
Healthcare and professional services are moving in opposite directions.
Healthcare and social assistance added 15,000 jobs over the year while professional, scientific and technical services lost 7,600 — a split that mirrors the national pattern of white-collar softness. For a metro built partly on professional-services employment, this divergence is worth tracking as an indicator of which sectors are absorbing local investment.
Public-sector hiring is doing more of the work than usual.
State government (+4,500) and local government (+2,500) led September's job gains, alongside transportation and warehousing (+2,100). That pattern points to public-sector payrolls as a stabilizing force in the metro's job count this month, a signal worth noting for anyone assessing fiscal and employment stability locally.
Weekly wage gains look strong on paper and may reflect composition effects.
Average weekly wages in covered establishments reached $1,587.19 in Q1 2026, and August weekly earnings rose 7.6% even as job counts slipped — a combination consistent with job losses concentrated among lower-wage positions. That distinction matters for reading consumer spending power across income groups in the metro.
Median advertised pay by role — Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $24,519 | $30,888 | $35,152 | Stable | $33,340 |
| Retail Cashier | $23,920 | $28,080 | $30,160 | Stable | $31,268 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $31,594 | $36,448 | $38,735 | Stable | $38,480 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $58,478 | $78,000 | $88,400 | Stable | $78,872 |
| Delivery Driver | $30,088 | $33,917 | $40,776 | Stable | $34,826 |
| Construction Laborer | $31,200 | $36,400 | $39,520 | Moderate decline | $40,727 |
| Electrician | $56,040 | $67,600 | $72,858 | Moderate increase | $71,835 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $32,240 | $37,440 | $39,894 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $33,280 | $38,603 | $41,600 | Moderate increase | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $28,665 | $31,609 | $34,320 | Moderate decline | $33,764 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $31,200 | $35,360 | $37,440 | Stable | $41,600 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $31,200 | $40,746 | $45,726 | Moderate increase | $44,552 |
| HVAC Technician | $59,692 | $71,258 | $79,918 | Moderate increase | $71,406 |
| Registered Nurse | $84,708 | $97,970 | $105,103 | Moderate increase | $102,252 |
| Software Engineer | $112,791 | $148,064 | $162,450 | Stable | $154,403 |
| Data Engineer | $97,711 | $132,833 | $150,168 | Stable | $138,000 |
| Accountant | $56,426 | $68,207 | $75,000 | Stable | $72,000 |
| Financial Analyst | $66,278 | $90,889 | $97,500 | Stable | $94,646 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $55,000 | $64,760 | $79,319 | Stable | $74,477 |
| Marketing Specialist | $47,512 | $60,000 | $70,712 | Stable | $62,916 |
| Operations Manager | $65,000 | $83,727 | $89,626 | Moderate increase | $86,294 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $31,980 | $49,920 | $57,535 | Stable | $55,908 |
| Account Manager | $64,738 | $90,000 | $107,825 | Moderate increase | $94,009 |
| Warehouse Manager | $57,500 | $71,500 | $82,500 | Moderate increase | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $80,206 | $97,558 | $108,241 | Stable | $98,302 |
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 | $74,958 | Moderate increase | Stable |
| Manufacturing | $101,133 | Significant increase | Moderate decline |
| Retail Trade | $38,295 | Moderate increase | Moderate decline |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $67,480 | Stable | Moderate increase |
| Information | $132,246 | Significant increase | Significant decline |
| Financial Activities | $98,131 | Stable | Significant decline |
| Professional & Business Services | $85,954 | Significant increase | Moderate decline |
| Education & Health Services | $69,440 | Significant increase | Stable |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $32,844 | Moderate decline | Significant decline |
| Government | $67,033 | Moderate increase | Significant decline |
Local market conditions
Metro Atlanta's labor force and employment both hit all-time highs in September at 3,387,001 and roughly 3,101,900 payroll jobs, even as the unemployment rate edged up to 3.5% from 3.4% a year ago — a pattern consistent with more workers entering the market as job losses held steady. Sector performance diverged sharply: healthcare and social assistance added 15,000 jobs over the year while professional, scientific and technical services shed 7,600, and state and local government payrolls expanded by a combined 7,000 in September alone, underscoring public-sector stability as a counterweight to private-sector softness.
What it means
Record labor force participation alongside flat payroll growth signals a metro economy absorbing new workers without yet translating that supply into broad job creation, a dynamic that matters for how commerce leaders read local demand and how economists assess slack. Weekly wages rising 7.6% in August even as total jobs slipped year-over-year suggests wage gains are concentrated in particular sectors, which has implications for reading consumer spending capacity across the metro. Current conditions suggest commerce leaders and economic development officials should track the healthcare-versus-professional-services divergence closely when evaluating which sectors are driving local investment activity.
Looking ahead
Early indicator: Watch whether the gap between record labor force growth and flat payroll counts widens or closes over the next two Georgia Department of Labor releases — a persistent gap would suggest participation is outpacing local job creation.
Worth watching: Professional, scientific and technical services has now shed jobs for multiple months; a continuation would be notable for a metro where that sector has historically been a growth engine.
Potential inflection point: State and local government have driven recent job gains; any signal of state or local budget tightening in the next fiscal cycle would remove a stabilizing force from the metro's job count.
Expected: National wage-vs-CPI divergence (1.5% earnings growth against 3.5% inflation per Q3 BLS data) is likely to keep showing up locally in weekly wage figures — track whether Atlanta's reported wage gains are concentrated in fewer, higher-paid sectors.
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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