Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Kankakee-Bradley, IL MSA — October 2026
Kankakee unemployment falls, but payrolls go nowhere.
Kankakee MSA unemployment dropped to 4.2% while nonfarm payrolls posted zero net growth, even as Illinois IT systems wages rose 4.7% year-over-year.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Kankakee MSA unemployment: 4.2% — Down 1.2 pts YoY, largest decline among IL metros
- Kankakee nonfarm payroll change: 0% — No net job growth despite falling unemployment
- Illinois IT wage growth: 4.7% — vs 2.4% overall advertised wage growth nationally
- National tech layoffs YTD: 133,417 — Already exceeds full-year 2025 total
Key takeaways
Zero payroll growth means retention is the lever.
Kankakee's flat nonfarm job count alongside falling unemployment suggests the existing technical workforce is tightening. Headcount plans built on external hiring may need to shift toward internal mobility and retention incentives for infrastructure and support staff.
Help desk pay is dropping while security pay climbs — a bifurcation to plan around.
Metro Help Desk/IT Support advertised pay fell significantly to $52,000 while Cybersecurity Analyst pay rose to $102,380, a gap exceeding $50,000. This divergence may signal an opportunity to outsource commoditized support tiers while concentrating budget on harder-to-fill security and infrastructure roles.
Systems Administrator pay movement outpaces network and software roles locally.
Metro Systems Administrator pay rose moderately to $93,859 even as Network Engineer ($107,600) and Software Engineer ($151,889) held stable, consistent with national data center and hybrid-infrastructure buildout. Organizations should evaluate whether infrastructure headcount plans reflect this uneven demand, since technical roles are moving at different paces.
Local tech pay still trails Chicago and national medians across most roles.
Metro medians for Data Scientist, Network Engineer, and Cybersecurity Analyst all sit below national figures, while Illinois ranks 47th nationally in job opportunities per capita. Current conditions suggest remote or hybrid sourcing from outside the metro may be necessary to fill specialized roles competitively.
Median advertised pay by role — Kankakee-Bradley, IL MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $112,735 | $140,071 | $160,363 | Stable | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator * | $79,564 | $93,859 | $105,000 | Moderate increase | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer * | $75,380 | $107,600 | $129,924 | Stable | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer * | $112,375 | $151,889 | $166,850 | Stable | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $50,611 | $52,000 | $54,080 | Significant decline | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $87,544 | $102,380 | $117,382 | Moderate increase | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager * | $86,552 | $120,339 | $130,019 | Stable | $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
Kankakee MSA unemployment fell to 4.2% in September, down 1.2 points year-over-year and the sharpest improvement among Illinois metros, yet nonfarm payrolls showed zero net growth — the decline reflects fewer job seekers in the labor market. With Illinois IT systems and solutions wages up 4.7% year-over-year against 2.4% overall wage growth nationally, employers in this flat-payroll metro are competing for a static or shrinking technical labor pool.
What it means
Flat payroll growth paired with falling unemployment signals that IT leaders here are drawing from a static or shrinking applicant pool — they are retaining existing staff or losing them to Chicago-area employers paying metro premiums, particularly in security and infrastructure roles where advertised pay is climbing. With national data center postings up 20% in three months and specialized AI/infrastructure talent commanding 9-10% premiums, Kankakee employers face a widening gap between what local budgets support and what competitive offers require. Consider reviewing whether infrastructure and security roles can be structured as hybrid or remote to access Chicago-metro compensation data points without requiring Chicago-metro overhead.
Looking ahead
Early indicator: Watch whether Kankakee's falling unemployment converts into payroll growth in the next two reporting cycles. Continued zero net job change alongside declining unemployment would reinforce a shrinking labor force.
Emerging pressure point: National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 workers through October 21, surpassing all of 2025. Watch whether any released Chicago-area or regional tech talent filters into the Kankakee candidate pool, particularly for infrastructure and support roles.
Worth watching: Data center job postings, a signal of hiring demand where one ad often covers several openings, are up 20% nationally in three months and 147% above June 2024 levels. Track whether this translates into announced infrastructure investment or facility activity within the Kankakee-Bradley corridor.
Potential inflection point: Illinois' labor force has shrunk by nearly 109,000 over the trailing year even as unemployment falls. If this pattern persists in Kankakee County specifically, build-vs-buy decisions for specialized IT functions may shift further toward outsourcing or remote hires outside the metro.
Sources
- Illinois Department of Employment Security — Kankakee MSA unemployment fell to 4.2% in September, down 1.2 points YoY
- Bureau of Labor Statistics / IDES — Kankakee metro posted zero net change in nonfarm jobs over the year
- Indeed Hiring Lab — Illinois IT systems & solutions advertised wages up 4.7% year-over-year
- Tech layoff tracking aggregate — 133,417 tech employees laid off at 325 companies through Oct 21, 2026
- Indeed Hiring Lab — Data center job postings grew 20% in three months, 147% above June 2024
- State labor market research aggregate — Illinois ranks 47th nationally in job opportunities per capita
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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