Labor Market Pulse · Finance · September 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL MSA — September 2026
Davenport finance pay climbs as labor pool quietly shrinks.
Metro unemployment fell to 4.2% even as nonfarm employment dropped 2,100 jobs year-over-year, while FP&A Manager advertised pay rose to $136,259 — outpacing the $128,139 national median.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 4.2% — Aug 2026, down from 4.0% in July
- Metro nonfarm employment change: -2,100 jobs — Year-over-year, steepest decline among IL metros
- Illinois financial activities jobs: -15,800 — Year-over-year statewide decline, largest sector loss
- National F&A hiring index: 134% — vs 108% talent surplus in 2025
Key takeaways
FP&A talent is getting more expensive while headcount budgets stay flat.
FP&A Manager advertised pay rose significantly to a metro median of $136,259, outpacing the $128,139 national figure, even as Illinois financial activities employment fell 15,800 jobs year-over-year. Rising pay for a role Finance leaders can't outsource easily suggests scarcity premiums are forming independent of sector-wide contraction.
Metro unemployment decline may reflect shrinking labor supply, not hiring strength.
Davenport's unemployment rate improved to 4.2% even as total nonfarm employment fell 2,100 jobs year-over-year, the steepest percentage decline among Illinois metros. Headcount cost planning built on a tightening unemployment rate alone risks understating how thin the actual candidate pool has become.
National wage deceleration offers budget relief, but not evenly.
September's 0.13% month-over-month wage growth (3.0% year-over-year) came in below expectations, easing aggregate salary budget pressure, yet nearly half of F&A organizations still expect direct labor rate increases above 4% given a 2026 Talent Shortage Index of 77%. Treat national wage moderation as a floor, not a ceiling, for finance-specific roles.
Financial Analyst pay surge signals shifting demand toward analytical capacity.
Metro Financial Analyst advertised pay climbed significantly to $94,522, just below the national median and up from prior periods, even as adjacent roles like Billing Specialist declined. Demand appears to be consolidating around analytical and forecasting skill sets rather than transactional finance functions — a signal worth reflecting in role architecture and compensation benchmarking, not headcount counts alone.
Median advertised pay by role — Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | $82,500 | $109,741 | $117,174 | Stable | $113,754 |
| Senior Accountant | $64,000 | $79,174 | $79,501 | Moderate increase | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst | $73,415 | $94,522 | $99,765 | Significant increase | $94,782 |
| Billing Specialist | $35,557 | $43,680 | $44,660 | Moderate decline | $49,512 |
| Tax Specialist | $40,238 | $65,620 | $71,973 | Stable | $65,842 |
| Credit Analyst * | $62,400 | $71,686 | $75,000 | Moderate increase | $71,758 |
| FP&A Manager | $107,217 | $136,259 | $140,630 | Significant increase | $128,139 |
* 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
Davenport-Moline-Rock Island's unemployment rate fell to 4.2% in August (3.9% on the Illinois side, down from 5.3% a year ago), even as total nonfarm employment in the metro declined by 2,100 jobs year-over-year — the largest percentage drop among Illinois metros. That divergence points to a labor force contracting faster than job openings, a dynamic consistent with national financial activities losses (-129,000 since May 2025) that are compressing finance hiring pipelines even as finance and accounting leaders nationally report 74% plan to expand permanent headcount.
What it means
Metro-level finance headcount cost planning now sits at the intersection of two competing signals: a shrinking local labor pool that should support advertised pay, and a national financial activities sector still shedding jobs, which may temper aggressive budget assumptions for headcount growth. FP&A Manager advertised pay is up significantly locally ($136,259, above the $128,139 national median), suggesting Davenport employers are competing hard for scarce planning and forecasting talent even as broader finance payrolls contract. Consider reviewing budget-cycle headcount assumptions role-by-role rather than sector-wide, since local scarcity in planning and analysis functions is diverging sharply from national financial-sector contraction trends.
Looking ahead
Expected release: BLS publishes official September metro-level data October 28. Watch whether the 2,100-job year-over-year employment decline persists or reverses, since that figure currently drives the gap between falling unemployment and shrinking payrolls.
Emerging pressure point: Illinois financial activities employment is down 15,800 jobs year-over-year statewide, the largest sectoral decline in the state. Monitor whether Quad Cities-area finance functions see consolidation or shared-services shifts consistent with the national trend toward automation offsetting headcount growth.
Worth watching: Illinois WARN filings have reached 91 notices and 16,782 affected workers year-to-date, with recent large filings concentrated outside the immediate metro (Chicago-area telecom and insurance). Track whether displaced finance and administrative talent begins surfacing in the Quad Cities candidate pool.
Potential inflection point: National finance and accounting hiring indices show a 134% Hiring Index alongside a 77% Talent Shortage Index, a sharp reversal from 2025's talent surplus. If this national rebalancing reaches Davenport, advertised pay for scarce roles like FP&A Manager and Financial Analyst may accelerate further before year-end budget cycles close.
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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