Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Florence, SC MSA — September 2026
Florence jobs shrink, wages jump — a scarcity story, not growth.
Florence MSA employment fell to 96,200 in June, down 400 jobs year-over-year, even as average weekly wages rose 15.3% to $903.56 — a sign employers are paying up for a shrinking technical talent pool rather than expanding into a growing one.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Florence MSA employment: 96,200 — Down 400 jobs YoY, June 2026
- Florence avg weekly wage growth: +15.3% YoY — vs 4.0% statewide weekly wage growth
- Florence County unemployment: 4.6% — July 2026, vs 3.2% SC preliminary rate
- Help Desk pay gap vs national: -14.4% — $45,937 metro vs $53,644 national median
Key takeaways
Florence wages are rising while the job base shrinks.
A 15.3% year-over-year wage jump alongside 400 fewer jobs than a year ago is not broad economic growth — it reflects employers paying premiums to retain scarce skilled workers in a tightening local supply. IT leaders should treat local wage inflation as a retention signal, not evidence of market expansion to hire into.
Help desk pay in Florence lags national rates by 14%.
Advertised Help Desk/IT Support pay sits at $45,937 locally against $53,644 nationally, a significant gap that is widening rather than closing. That spread makes this role a strong candidate for outsourcing or managed support, freeing budget for specialized retention elsewhere.
Cybersecurity pay gap with the national market is a retention risk.
Florence Cybersecurity Analyst pay sits roughly $12,000 below the national median and both are described as stable, meaning the gap is not closing organically. National data shows senior security talent commanding up to $400K, so Florence employers risk losing mid-career analysts to remote-eligible national postings if pay holds flat.
Transportation and warehousing growth could reshape IT support demand.
Projected 42.9% growth in transportation and warehousing employment locally points toward rising demand for logistics-adjacent IT infrastructure, networking, and systems support. IT leaders in or serving this sector should plan headcount and vendor capacity ahead of that expansion rather than reactively.
Median advertised pay by role — Florence, SC MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $109,810 | $142,389 | $163,971 | Moderate increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator * | $75,331 | $91,531 | $102,704 | Moderate increase | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer * | $78,670 | $105,565 | $112,432 | Significant increase | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer * | $117,000 | $153,047 | $169,420 | Moderate increase | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $38,785 | $45,937 | $48,357 | Significant decline | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $83,100 | $94,411 | $109,644 | Stable | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager * | $85,624 | $113,936 | $126,574 | Stable | $117,530 |
* 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
Florence MSA employment slipped to 96,200 in June 2026, down 400 jobs year-over-year, even as the unemployment rate eased to 4.8% and Florence County posted 4.6% in July — a tightening rate against a shrinking job base that signals labor supply constraints rather than hiring strength. Average weekly wages jumped 15.3% year-over-year to $903.56 despite a monthly dip, a pattern consistent with employers paying up for scarce skilled labor in a metro with no major expansion announcements this quarter.
What it means
A contracting employment base paired with sharp wage acceleration suggests Florence IT employers are competing for a shrinking local technical talent pool rather than benefiting from broad market growth, raising the cost of permanent headcount in infrastructure and support roles that are easier to source remotely or through contract arrangements. Statewide skills-gap pressure in cybersecurity and engineering, combined with Charleston and Columbia pulling talent through remote-friendly postings, means Florence-based roles increasingly compete on a statewide and national pay basis rather than a local one. Consider reviewing whether commodity IT functions — help desk, basic systems administration — can shift toward contract or managed-services arrangements while reserving permanent budget for cybersecurity and cloud roles facing the steepest national pay growth.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Florence employment has contracted for two straight comparison periods while wages climb — watch whether September/October data (once released) shows stabilization or continued job-base erosion, which would sharpen local competition for remaining technical talent.
Emerging pressure point: Statewide WARN activity remains modest (33 notices, 4,155 workers YTD) but includes Koppers Inc. in Florence itself. Monitor whether any released technical or operations staff enter the local IT-adjacent candidate pool.
Potential inflection point: National Indeed Job Postings Index turned positive for the first time in nearly four years — if that momentum reaches Florence postings data, it would mark a shift from the metro's current consolidation phase toward renewed hiring activity.
Early indicator: Remote work expansion is pulling South Carolina technical talent toward Charleston-area and national postings. Track whether Florence-based roles require pay adjustments simply to remain visible in statewide searches, independent of local demand.
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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