Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Jackson, MI MSA — September 2026
Jackson's infrastructure pay slides as the nation's climbs.
Jackson MSA Systems Administrator pay fell significantly to $78,542 against a rising $101,168 national median, even as the metro posted the strongest payroll job growth, 1.2% year-over-year, of any Michigan metro.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Jackson unemployment rate: 5.0% — Down from 5.2% in July 2026
- Jackson payroll job growth: +1.2% YoY — Best among 9 Michigan metro areas
- Systems Admin pay gap: $78,542 vs $101,168 — Metro down significantly, national up moderate
- Michigan statewide unemployment: 5.0% — Third-highest nationally in 2025
Key takeaways
Infrastructure pay is falling locally while the nation moves the other way.
Systems Administrator pay in Jackson is down significantly to $78,542 against a national median of $101,168 that's rising; Network Engineer shows the same pattern, down significantly locally to $73,853 versus $114,400 nationally and climbing. This spread is wide enough to invite talent loss to remote roles benchmarked against national rates.
Security and data roles are the exception, not the rule.
Cybersecurity Analyst and Data Scientist pay are both up moderately in Jackson, tracking — if not matching — national gains driven by CompTIA's reported 346% above-average growth in cybersecurity demand. Budget conversations should separate these roles from the broader infrastructure cost conversation; they are behaving like a different market.
A tighter labor force may be masking a hiring opportunity, not blocking it.
Jackson's labor force contracted even as payrolls grew 1.2% year-over-year, the strongest among Michigan metros, suggesting employers willing to recruit non-locally or support hybrid arrangements may face less competition than headline unemployment figures imply. Current conditions suggest reviewing whether remote-eligible infrastructure and support roles are being needlessly restricted to local candidate pools.
Help Desk pay is rising against a national backdrop of flat demand.
Help Desk/IT Support Specialist pay in Jackson is up moderately to $55,493, now ahead of the stable national median of $53,644 — an unusual local premium for a role nationally facing AI-driven demand compression. This may signal Jackson employers struggling to staff entry-level support from a shrinking local workforce rather than a genuine shift in role value.
Median advertised pay by role — Jackson, MI MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $103,947 | $131,585 | $138,991 | Moderate increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $78,143 | $78,542 | $78,543 | Significant decline | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $71,378 | $73,853 | $79,255 | Significant decline | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $106,073 | $134,905 | $149,059 | Moderate decline | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $49,795 | $55,493 | $61,576 | Moderate increase | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $77,784 | $80,410 | $80,410 | 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
Jackson MSA unemployment eased to 5.0% in August from 5.2% in July, and the metro led all nine Michigan metro areas with payroll job growth of 1.2% year-over-year, even as local labor force levels continue to contract. That combination — job gains alongside a shrinking workforce — appears consistent with employers competing for a thinning candidate pool rather than expanding into slack labor supply.
What it means
A tightening local labor pool paired with positive payroll growth signals that IT leaders adding headcount face real friction filling infrastructure and support roles even as demand holds up, while the sharp divergence between falling Systems Administrator and Network Engineer advertised pay locally versus rising national rates suggests Jackson employers are either under-pricing these roles or quietly shifting that work to contractors and managed service providers. Specialized roles — cybersecurity, cloud, data — are moving in the opposite direction locally, up moderately and in step with national demand, reinforcing a two-tier market where commodity infrastructure work is losing pricing power and specialized roles are gaining it. Organizations should evaluate whether declining local infrastructure pay reflects a genuine market softening or a mispricing risk that could accelerate attrition into remote, nationally-benchmarked roles.
Looking ahead
Emerging pressure point: Michigan's minimum wage climbs to $15.00 in January 2027, compressing further against entry-level IT support pay already rising locally. IT leaders budgeting flat support-tier headcount for 2027 should model this wage floor into total rewards planning now.
Worth watching: Manufacturing-driven WARN activity across Michigan, including the GM Lansing and Fifth Third Farmington Hills notices, may release adjacent technical and administrative talent into regional candidate pools. Watch whether displaced workers with transferable infrastructure or support skills surface in Jackson-area applicant flow over the next two months.
Potential inflection point: The gap between falling local Systems Administrator and Network Engineer pay and rising national rates is wide enough that a single aggressive local or remote competitor could trigger visible attrition. Monitor whether open infrastructure requisitions are drawing fewer qualified local applicants than six months ago.
Early indicator: Michigan's 2026 Hot 50 report flags STEM and tech roles as high-demand through 2034, a signal that regional workforce development and community college pipelines may begin targeting cloud and security skill gaps. Track whether local training programs start producing candidates for roles currently filled through outsourcing.
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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