Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · October 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Longview, TX MSA — October 2026
Longview's jobless rate falls as its job count shrinks.
Longview unemployment eased to 4.6% from 5.0% in August even as nonfarm payrolls fell by 400 to 124,700, against a Texas labor force that added just 3,600 net participants statewide over the year.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Longview unemployment rate: 4.6% — Down from 5.0% in August 2026
- Longview nonfarm employment: 124,700 — Down 400 from August, up 600 year-over-year
- Texas labor force growth: +3,600 — Net new participants over 12 months statewide
- Texas unemployment rate: 4.4% — vs 4.2% national rate, September 2026
Key takeaways
Falling unemployment masks a shrinking job base.
Longview's rate dropped to 4.6% from 5.0% in August, but nonfarm payrolls fell by 400 over the same month. A lower unemployment rate alongside fewer jobs is consistent with people leaving the labor force.
Texas' labor force stall has a direct Longview echo.
The state added just 3,600 net new labor force participants over twelve months even as Longview's workforce held near 130,000-131,000 with little movement. Flat labor supply statewide constrains how much any single metro, including Longview, can grow employment without wage competition intensifying.
Manufacturing wage softness bucks the state's bright spot.
Texas manufacturing added 4,700 jobs in September on oil/gas and export strength, yet Longview's manufacturing production worker pay moved down moderately to $33,503, well under the $39,520 national median. Divergence between state sector momentum and metro-level pay suggests Longview's manufacturing base is missing the wage pressure seen elsewhere in Texas.
Skilled trades pay is outrunning the broader metro.
HVAC technician advertised pay rose significantly to $60,240 and CDL truck driver pay rose to $82,740, both outpacing most other tracked roles locally. Concentrated wage gains in trades and transportation point to localized demand pockets within the metro.
Median advertised pay by role — Longview, TX MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $21,840 | $27,040 | $31,720 | Moderate increase | $33,340 |
| Retail Cashier | $21,725 | $23,997 | $26,000 | Moderate decline | $31,268 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $30,668 | $34,195 | $35,447 | Moderate increase | $38,480 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $54,813 | $82,740 | $93,600 | Moderate increase | $78,872 |
| Delivery Driver | $26,654 | $32,618 | $35,360 | Stable | $34,826 |
| Construction Laborer | $33,772 | $35,360 | $36,389 | Stable | $40,727 |
| Electrician | $54,735 | $67,600 | $71,614 | Stable | $71,835 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $31,054 | $33,503 | $35,299 | Moderate decline | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $31,200 | $35,360 | $36,571 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $24,866 | $26,963 | $27,213 | Stable | $33,764 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $31,200 | $34,071 | $35,937 | Stable | $41,600 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $31,378 | $37,440 | $41,600 | Moderate increase | $44,552 |
| HVAC Technician | $49,920 | $60,240 | $62,400 | Significant increase | $71,406 |
| Registered Nurse | $77,316 | $85,949 | $93,600 | Moderate increase | $102,252 |
| Software Engineer * | $113,625 | $152,500 | $167,458 | Stable | $154,403 |
| Data Engineer * | $100,219 | $135,000 | $153,586 | Stable | $138,000 |
| Accountant | $57,749 | $75,000 | $82,500 | Moderate increase | $72,000 |
| Financial Analyst | $67,120 | $71,635 | $99,024 | Moderate decline | $94,646 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $55,298 | $63,911 | $69,055 | Moderate increase | $74,477 |
| Marketing Specialist * | $46,800 | $61,150 | $72,500 | Stable | $62,916 |
| Operations Manager * | $70,000 | $82,583 | $98,295 | Moderate decline | $86,294 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $28,210 | $54,118 | $57,913 | Moderate decline | $55,908 |
| Account Manager | $46,555 | $88,008 | $94,887 | Significant increase | $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 | $55,000 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $56,573 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $35,447 | Moderate decline | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $76,745 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Information | $53,642 | Significant decline | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $48,180 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $48,000 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $62,400 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $32,054 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Government | $66,683 | Stable | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Longview's unemployment rate eased to 4.6% in September from 5.0% in August, even as nonfarm employment slipped 400 positions month over month to 124,700 — a pattern consistent with seasonal adjustment, since employment still rose 600 over the year. Statewide labor force growth has stalled to just 3,600 net new participants over twelve months, a structural constraint that appears to be reinforcing tight conditions in Longview even as headline unemployment ticks down.
What it means
Longview's labor market is moving sideways at a metro level while Texas wrestles with a stalled labor force — meaning local employers are competing for a workforce pool that isn't growing, regardless of how local hiring demand trends. Commerce leaders weighing local expansion or investment should treat workforce availability and wage levels together as binding constraints on growth capacity. Current conditions suggest monitoring Gregg County labor force participation trends alongside the unemployment rate, since a falling jobless rate paired with flat-to-shrinking participation signals less slack than the headline number implies.
Looking ahead
Data gap to monitor: October metro-level unemployment figures won't be available until mid-November, and Gregg County data currently lags to June. Commerce and economic development leaders should treat September's 4.6% figure as provisional until the fuller release confirms direction.
Emerging pressure point: Texas' forecast job growth for 2026 was downgraded to 0.9% from an earlier 2.0% estimate, with labor force growth stalling statewide. Watch whether Longview's next employment reading shows the same deceleration or holds closer to its modest 600-job annual gain.
Worth watching: Statewide commentary links a dwindling supply of immigrant labor to rising demand for temporary and contract staffing arrangements. Longview employers in construction, manufacturing, and logistics may be early indicators of whether that substitution pattern shows up locally.
Potential inflection point: Dallas Fed's service sector wages/benefits index hit its highest level since January 2023 in October, while Texas manufacturing employment growth cooled from 15.1 to 11.6. A similar split between service-sector wage pressure and manufacturing deceleration in Longview would mark a shift in which sectors are driving local economic momentum.
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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