Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Jonesboro, AR MSA — October 2026
Jonesboro IT pay splits: support roles surge, engineering pay retreats.
Help Desk/IT Support pay jumped to $50,080 in the Jonesboro metro even as Software Engineer pay fell significantly to $153,429, pointing to a local market rewarding operational talent amid high-end engineering pay softening.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 4.5% — Aug 2026, down from 4.7% a year earlier
- Metro nonfarm job change: -100 jobs — Sept 2026, following +300 in August
- Craighead County unemployment: 3.5%-3.9% — Aug-Sept 2026, near multi-year lows
- National tech layoffs YTD: 133,417 workers — Through Oct 21, 2026; exceeds all of 2025
Key takeaways
Help Desk pay surge signals support-role scarcity.
Metro Help Desk/IT Support advertised pay rose significantly to $50,080 even as the national figure declined, a divergence suggesting Jonesboro employers are competing harder for frontline IT talent than the rest of the country. Treat this role as a retention risk that warrants sustained investment.
Software Engineer pay drop may reflect fewer local high-end roles.
Metro Software Engineer pay fell significantly to $153,429 while the national median held stable, a pattern consistent with employers shifting advertised roles toward mid-tier or hybrid positions. Organizations building cloud-native capability may need to look outside the metro to fill senior roles.
Cybersecurity and network roles still trail national pay by wide margins.
Cybersecurity Analyst ($87,969 vs. $107,327 national) and Network Engineer ($93,866 vs. $115,757 national) both show meaningful gaps, even with upward local movement. Given Arkansas' STEM pipeline constraints, these gaps may widen further and push organizations toward outsourced security operations centers or managed network services.
September's job loss reflects tight supply — unemployment stayed near record lows.
Metro nonfarm employment dipped by 100 jobs in September even as Craighead County unemployment held at 3.5%-3.9%, indicating the pullback reflects limited labor supply amid steady demand. Headcount planning should assume continued difficulty filling open technical roles despite headline job losses.
Median advertised pay by role — Jonesboro, AR MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $119,372 | $142,292 | $155,655 | Stable | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator * | $69,813 | $85,674 | $95,386 | Moderate increase | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer * | $67,300 | $93,866 | $118,535 | Moderate increase | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $123,376 | $153,429 | $158,574 | Significant decline | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $47,500 | $50,080 | $56,000 | Significant increase | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $75,069 | $87,969 | $109,989 | Stable | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager * | $99,848 | $118,055 | $125,638 | Moderate increase | $118,150 |
* 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
Jonesboro metro employment slipped by 100 jobs in September after an August gain of 300, even as the unemployment rate held near multi-year lows at 4.5% and Craighead County sat at 3.9% — a pattern consistent with a labor market tight enough that losses reflect scarce labor supply. Statewide wage disbursement growth is moderating (5.8% in FY2026 versus 6.7% in FY2025) while Arkansas' STEM pipeline gap widens, a combination that keeps local technical talent scarce even as broader hiring cools.
What it means
Divergent advertised pay trends across roles — Help Desk/IT Support Specialist up significantly to $50,080 while Software Engineer fell sharply to $153,429 — suggest local demand is consolidating around operational and support functions, a signal that may favor hybrid staffing models over large in-house development teams. Thin local supply for specialized infrastructure and security roles, paired with Arkansas' STEM shortage, strengthens the case for outsourcing routine operations to lower-cost regions while reserving in-house headcount for roles tied to data center and hybrid infrastructure growth. Consider reviewing whether current build-vs-buy assumptions still hold given the gap between rising support-role pay and softening engineering pay locally.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Data center buildout tied to Entergy's $103M 2026 Google agreement, and the broader $443M commitment through 2029, could generate infrastructure and facilities-adjacent IT roles regionally even as political pushback (including a proposed Little Rock moratorium) creates policy uncertainty for expansion timelines.
Emerging pressure point: National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 workers through October, well above all of 2025. Watch whether any of that displaced talent — particularly in cloud or security specialties — begins appearing in the Jonesboro candidate pool via remote or relocation moves.
Early indicator: Arkansas' STEM shortage and University of Arkansas' Vision 2035 engineering expansion plan signal a long-term pipeline response, but near-term effects won't reach the Jonesboro labor pool for several years. Local organizations should treat current scarcity in network and security roles as a multi-year constraint.
Potential inflection point: National information-sector hiring has slowed to a 1.6% hire rate, reinforcing internal mobility over external recruiting. If that pattern persists into Jonesboro hiring plans, expect increased competition for retention-focused compensation adjustments.
Sources
- USA Facts / BLS — Jonesboro metro lost 100 jobs in September 2026 after gaining 300 in August
- Fiscal Toolbox / BLS — Craighead County unemployment rate at 3.5% in August 2026
- Arkansas fiscal forecast — Arkansas FY2026 wage and salary disbursement growth of 5.8%
- Entergy Arkansas agreement reporting — Google to pay Entergy $103M in 2026, $443M through 2029 for data center power
- Layoffs tracking data (industry reporting) — 133,417 tech employees laid off at 325 companies through Oct 21, 2026
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — U.S. information-sector hire rate fell to 1.6% of employment by August 2026
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.
Free to read and cite with attribution to WageScape. Terms of use.