Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Holland-Grand Haven, MI MSA — September 2026
Holland's 2.5% jobless rate masks a shrinking IT labor pool
Holland posted a 2.5% unemployment rate in September while Ottawa County shed 3,100 jobs year-over-year, and metro Systems Administrator pay climbed to $96,000 as employers compete for a thinner bench.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Holland unemployment rate: 2.5% — vs 5.0% Michigan average, 4.1% national
- Ottawa County employment change: -3,100 jobs — Sept 2024 to Sept 2025, despite low jobless rate
- Ottawa County average weekly wage: $1,157 — +3.7% YoY, outpacing 2.5% national wage growth
- Michigan WARN filings, 2026 YTD: 5,120 workers — 33 notices, manufacturing-led, none yet in Holland metro
Key takeaways
Local Systems Administrator pay is outrunning the national market.
Metro advertised pay of $96,000 moved up significantly while the national figure of $101,168 rose only moderately, narrowing a gap that typically favored national postings. Infrastructure compensation benchmarks set even six months ago may already be stale.
Ottawa County's shrinking workforce is the real signal, not the jobless rate.
A 2.5% unemployment rate reads as labor abundance, but county employment fell by roughly 3,100 workers over the year — consistent with people leaving the labor force rather than finding jobs elsewhere. Headcount planning built on 'low unemployment equals available talent' assumptions should be reconsidered.
Network Engineer demand looks like a build-vs-buy inflection point.
Metro pay for Network Engineer roles ($118,552) now exceeds the national median ($114,400) and is rising significantly, an unusual local premium for a role nationally tagged as moderate growth. Current conditions suggest evaluating whether in-house network engineering capacity still pencils out against managed infrastructure providers.
Software Engineer pay is softening locally while holding nationally.
Metro advertised pay for Software Engineer roles fell moderately to $105,951 against a stable national median of $153,652 — a gap wide enough to suggest Holland-area employers are not competing for top-tier engineering talent on price. This may reflect a market better suited to remote or contract engineering sourcing than local permanent hiring.
Median advertised pay by role — Holland-Grand Haven, MI MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $113,870 | $146,835 | $164,186 | Moderate increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $74,988 | $96,000 | $101,852 | Significant increase | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $80,000 | $118,552 | $125,835 | Significant increase | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $49,237 | $105,951 | $131,185 | Moderate decline | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $42,967 | $62,192 | $65,000 | Significant increase | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $84,645 | $101,500 | $120,000 | Moderate increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager * | $84,387 | $112,914 | $125,000 | Moderate increase | $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
Holland's 2.5% unemployment rate — among the lowest in Michigan even as the state average sits at 5.0% — reflects a labor market that looks tight on the surface but is contracting underneath, with Ottawa County losing roughly 3,100 workers between September 2024 and September 2025. Average weekly wages in the county rose 3.7% year-over-year to $1,157, a pace that outstrips national wage growth of 2.5% and signals employers are paying more to secure a shrinking pool of candidates rather than expanding headcount.
What it means
Low headline unemployment combined with a declining workforce means IT leaders are not competing in a slack market — they are competing for fewer available people, and advertised pay for Systems Administrator ($96,000, up significantly) and Network Engineer ($118,552, up significantly) roles locally is already outpacing national movement in those same titles. That dynamic favors retention investment over expansion for infrastructure and support functions, while specialized cloud and security hiring may increasingly require regional or remote sourcing to fill gaps the local labor pool cannot. Consider reviewing whether current infrastructure compensation reflects the county's 3.7% wage growth trend rather than statewide averages, which understate the premium being paid locally for scarce technical talent.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Michigan's minimum wage path to $15.00 in January 2027 will compress the distance between entry-level IT support pay and skilled technical roles. Help Desk advertised pay already moved up significantly to $62,192 locally — watch whether that trend accelerates as the wage floor rises.
Emerging pressure point: Ottawa County's year-over-year employment decline has not yet shown up as a visible surge in available technical candidates. Watch whether released manufacturing or logistics talent — sectors driving Michigan's 2026 WARN filings — begins shifting toward IT support and infrastructure roles.
Potential inflection point: National cybersecurity pay is climbing fast (senior roles reaching $400K per industry data) while Holland's Cybersecurity Analyst median of $101,500 sits well below the national figure of $106,790. A widening gap raises real retention risk for security talent with remote options.
Expected: AI-driven compression of lower-level IT operations roles, already visible nationally, should intersect with Holland's tightening labor pool over the next two months. Expect sharper internal debate over reallocating support staff toward cloud and security functions rather than backfilling traditional roles.
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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