Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Jacksonville, FL MSA — September 2026
Jacksonville job growth flatlines as workforce quietly shrinks.
Jacksonville added just 500 net jobs over the past year and resident employment fell 1.1%, even as Duval County's unemployment ticked down to 4.9% in August.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro net job growth (12-mo): 0.1% — 500 jobs added vs Florida's 0.6% statewide pace
- Duval County unemployment: 4.9% — Up from 4.2% a year ago; state is 4.5%
- Resident employment change: -1.1% — 8,848 fewer employed residents, year-over-year
- Florida minimum wage (effective 9/30): $15.00/hr — Up from $14.00; tipped wage to $11.98
Key takeaways
Jacksonville's job growth has effectively stalled, not collapsed.
Net nonfarm job additions of just 500 over twelve months (0.1% growth) sit well below the statewide 0.6% pace, suggesting the metro is plateauing rather than contracting outright. That distinction matters for how press and officials characterize local momentum this fall.
Resident labor force shrinkage is the quieter story.
Resident employment fell 1.1% (down 8,848 people) through June even as unemployment ticked down slightly — a pattern consistent with people leaving the labor force rather than a strengthening job market. Falling participation alongside flat job creation complicates a simple 'unemployment is improving' narrative.
Government and finance are the metro's soft spots, not its story.
Government shed 2,400 jobs and financial activities lost 4,000 over the year, echoing the national trend of white-collar and public-sector softness. Education and health services (+4.8%) more than offsets this, underscoring how sector mix — not headline unemployment — now drives the local reading.
Minimum wage increase lands amid a cooling, not overheating, market.
Florida's minimum wage rises to $15.00 (then $16.00 after the 2026 adjustment) effective September 30, arriving as metro job growth has nearly flatlined. The timing means the wage floor is rising into a labor market with less hiring pressure than a year ago, worth watching for its effect on lower-wage retail and food-service pay dynamics already showing isolated softness.
Median advertised pay by role — Jacksonville, FL MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $26,919 | $32,240 | $35,601 | Stable | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $26,344 | $30,160 | $32,170 | Stable | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $31,092 | $35,653 | $37,648 | Stable | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $53,098 | $75,400 | $85,800 | Stable | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $30,261 | $33,020 | $37,372 | Moderate decline | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $32,934 | $38,586 | $43,680 | Moderate increase | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $54,316 | $63,177 | $69,463 | Stable | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $32,240 | $37,440 | $39,520 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $34,093 | $39,029 | $43,385 | Moderate increase | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $28,482 | $30,963 | $31,972 | Stable | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $32,275 | $36,321 | $38,480 | Stable | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $33,923 | $41,572 | $44,398 | Moderate increase | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician | $57,200 | $67,600 | $73,035 | Moderate increase | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $75,313 | $87,056 | $94,648 | Significant increase | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer | $112,497 | $135,487 | $153,000 | Moderate increase | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer | $98,722 | $130,962 | $144,327 | Stable | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $59,226 | $68,750 | $80,730 | Moderate increase | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst | $72,800 | $90,000 | $96,950 | Stable | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $58,380 | $65,725 | $70,000 | Stable | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist | $50,718 | $67,773 | $76,315 | Significant increase | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager | $55,736 | $58,611 | $74,909 | Significant decline | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $34,361 | $50,000 | $54,203 | Significant increase | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $62,797 | $87,500 | $100,000 | Moderate increase | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $61,238 | $72,000 | $75,000 | Moderate increase | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $80,857 | $95,732 | $105,000 | Stable | $98,279 |
* 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
Industry snapshot
| Sector | Median advertised pay | Pay trend | Postings trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | $61,179 | Moderate decline | Stable |
| Manufacturing | $73,665 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $36,073 | Moderate increase | Moderate decline |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $61,500 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Information | $77,950 | Significant increase | Moderate decline |
| Financial Activities | $73,935 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $62,485 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $53,153 | Significant increase | Moderate decline |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $33,280 | Stable | Moderate increase |
| Government | $65,035 | Significant increase | Significant decline |
Local market conditions
Jacksonville's unemployment rate eased slightly to 4.9% in Duval County in August, but the metro has added just 500 net jobs over the prior twelve months — effectively flat growth that marks a sharp deceleration from the pace seen a year ago. Education and health services (+4.8%) and professional and business services (+2.0%) are carrying the local economy while financial activities (-4,000 jobs) and government (-2,400 jobs) contract, a divergence that mirrors the national split between hands-on service growth and white-collar retrenchment.
What it means
Flat net job creation alongside a shrinking resident labor force (-1.1% year-over-year) points to a local economy that is neither expanding capacity nor losing it wholesale — a plateau rather than a downturn, which has different implications for commercial investment timing than an active contraction would. Government payroll losses and financial-sector softness suggest public-sector stability should not be assumed uniformly across the metro's six-county footprint, even as healthcare and business services continue to anchor momentum. Commerce leaders evaluating expansion or site-location decisions should consider weighting sector-specific trajectories — healthcare and professional services versus government and finance — rather than relying on a single metro-wide hiring signal.
Looking ahead
Early indicator: Watch whether Duval County's modest unemployment improvement (4.9% in August, down from July) persists into fall reporting or reflects seasonal noise, given the metro's weak underlying job growth.
Potential inflection point: Florida's minimum wage step-up to $15.00 on September 30, with tipped wages to $11.98, is a concrete test of whether lower-wage sectors absorb the increase without hiring slowdowns in retail and food service locally.
Emerging pressure point: Government and financial-sector job losses locally track a national pattern; any additional WARN notices in Northeast Florida tied to these sectors would confirm this is structural rather than a one-time adjustment.
Worth watching: Resident labor force decline (-8,848 year-over-year) deserves monitoring alongside participation data — a shrinking workforce base, even with low unemployment, constrains the pool available to support metro growth ambitions.
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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