Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · October 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Laredo, TX MSA — October 2026
Laredo labor force grows as Texas-wide expansion stalls.
Laredo's unemployment held at 4.1% against Texas's 4.4%, with the metro's labor force adding roughly 2,900 workers even as statewide labor force growth nearly stalled at 3,600 net new participants for the year.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Laredo unemployment rate: 4.1% — vs 4.4% Texas, 4.1% national (Sept. 2026)
- Laredo labor force growth: +2,900 YoY — vs just 3,600 added statewide in Texas
- Laredo compensation cost growth: 3.4% YoY — Wages/salaries component up 3.1%
- Texas statewide job growth: 1.1% annual — Outpaces 0.3% national rate
Key takeaways
Laredo's labor supply is growing while the state's has stalled.
Texas added only 15,800 workers to its labor force in September and just 3,600 over the full year, yet Laredo's labor force grew by roughly 2,900 year-over-year. That divergence may suggest the metro's trade and logistics base is pulling in participants even as statewide demographic headwinds intensify.
Wage growth is outpacing the metro's own inflation signal.
Compensation costs in the Laredo area rose 3.4% over the year, slightly ahead of the national wage growth figure of 3.6% nominal but running close to CPI gains reported statewide. Local employers appear to be sustaining pay growth without the visible real-wage erosion flagged in national Q3 data.
Unemployment advantage over Texas as a whole is widening.
Laredo's 4.1% rate sits a full three-tenths below the statewide 4.4% figure, a gap that has persisted through multiple months of TWC reporting. Consistent outperformance against the state average is a credible talking point for commerce leaders courting site-selection or relocation decisions.
Pay divergence across the metro's job basket tells a mixed story.
Registered Nurse and Accountant advertised pay rose significantly locally, while Construction Laborer, HVAC Technician and Administrative Assistant pay fell significantly — a spread wider than the state or national pattern. Uneven movement across occupations is consistent with a metro economy where healthcare and professional services are tightening faster than trades and office support.
Median advertised pay by role — Laredo, TX MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $23,520 | $31,200 | $34,320 | Moderate increase | $33,340 |
| Retail Cashier | $22,675 | $26,788 | $28,935 | Stable | $31,268 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $29,120 | $34,320 | $36,400 | Significant increase | $38,480 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $55,144 | $79,258 | $90,000 | Stable | $78,872 |
| Delivery Driver | $29,303 | $31,278 | $32,161 | Stable | $34,826 |
| Construction Laborer | $29,679 | $30,571 | $31,668 | Significant decline | $40,727 |
| Electrician | $43,471 | $52,634 | $64,933 | Stable | $71,835 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler * | $31,234 | $37,440 | $40,644 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $30,420 | $35,346 | $37,430 | Moderate increase | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $26,652 | $31,069 | $32,160 | Significant decline | $33,764 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $28,510 | $34,788 | $39,866 | Moderate decline | $41,600 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $27,132 | $33,298 | $34,907 | Moderate decline | $44,552 |
| HVAC Technician | $55,972 | $57,933 | $58,935 | Significant decline | $71,406 |
| Registered Nurse | $81,044 | $93,600 | $99,493 | Significant increase | $102,252 |
| Software Engineer | $117,869 | $139,651 | $140,983 | Moderate decline | $154,403 |
| Data Engineer * | $100,219 | $135,000 | $153,586 | Stable | $138,000 |
| Accountant | $46,816 | $56,184 | $60,647 | Significant increase | $72,000 |
| Financial Analyst | $67,235 | $78,146 | $84,763 | Stable | $94,646 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $39,703 | $55,575 | $60,465 | Significant decline | $74,477 |
| Marketing Specialist | $43,258 | $44,995 | $52,380 | Significant decline | $62,916 |
| Operations Manager | $68,681 | $80,924 | $86,481 | Stable | $86,294 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $24,708 | $34,598 | $50,192 | Stable | $55,908 |
| Account Manager | $62,325 | $80,000 | $90,577 | Stable | $94,009 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $48,368 | $70,873 | $85,260 | Significant decline | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst * | $79,461 | $96,918 | $109,288 | Stable | $98,302 |
* 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 | $64,728 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $66,806 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $34,320 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $54,455 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Information | $76,419 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $43,801 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $50,119 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $70,720 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $27,297 | Moderate decline | Moderate decline |
| Government | $67,630 | Stable | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Laredo's unemployment rate held at 4.1% in September, outperforming both Texas's 4.4% statewide rate and the national 4.1% figure, even as the metro's civilian labor force expanded by roughly 2,900 year-over-year and employment grew by approximately 900 positions. Cross-border trade activity and compensation costs that rose 3.4% over the year — with wages and salaries up 3.1% — point to a metro economy absorbing new workers without the wage deceleration or labor-force stall now visible at the state level.
What it means
Laredo's labor force growth stands apart from the statewide stall — Texas added just 3,600 net new participants over the past year — suggesting the metro's cross-border logistics and trade base continues to draw and retain working-age residents even as structural headwinds tighten elsewhere in the state. For commerce leaders evaluating expansion timing, a stable 4.1% unemployment rate paired with still-growing labor supply signals more capacity for local investment than most Texas metros currently offer. Current conditions suggest monitoring whether this labor-force advantage persists as federal immigration policy and trade flows evolve, since both carry direct implications for the cross-border workforce this metro depends on.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Texas's statewide labor force growth has nearly stalled, with immigration-related labor supply constraints cited by the Dallas Fed as a contributing factor. Laredo's exposure to cross-border labor flows makes it a useful bellwether for whether that constraint deepens or eases in coming months.
Early indicator: Service sector wage and benefit pressure in Texas hit its highest reading since January 2023 in October, per the Dallas Fed survey. Watch whether that pressure shows up in Laredo's next compensation cost release, due in early 2027 for Q4 data.
Potential inflection point: Texas manufacturing added 4,700 jobs statewide in September on the strength of trade and export activity, a sector directly tied to Laredo's port-of-entry economy. A continuation or reversal of that trend over the next two reporting cycles will signal whether border-trade momentum is building or fading.
Expected: Full September and October metro-level detail from BLS and TWC remains incomplete in public sources as of this briefing. Commerce leaders relying on labor force and employment counts should expect revisions when complete data publishes, particularly given recent discrepancies between TWC and Laredo Morning Times reporting on local unemployment levels.
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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