Labor Market Pulse · Human Resources · September 2026
Human Resources Labor Market Report: Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC MSA — September 2026
Myrtle Beach job growth outpaces the state — wage pressure lags beneath it.
Metro unemployment held at 4.2% with payrolls up 29,000 year-over-year, but HR Business Partner pay at $75,619 trails the $83,766 national median and Benefits Manager pay is falling locally even as it climbs nationally.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 4.2% — Sept 2026, up from 4.1% statewide (BLS)
- Metro payroll growth: +29,000 jobs — Year-over-year, outpacing SC average growth
- Benefits Manager pay divergence: $107,200 metro vs $117,888 national — Metro down moderately while national rises
- SC statewide wage growth: 4.0% — To $1,296/week, SC ranks 17th nationally in pace
Key takeaways
Metro job growth is outrunning the state, but unevenly.
29,000 jobs added year-over-year and 2.2% employment growth earlier in 2026 put Myrtle Beach ahead of most SC metros, yet gains remain concentrated in leisure/hospitality — a sector carrying the state's lowest average weekly wage at $514. Compensation strategy built around headline growth numbers risks ignoring where the pay pressure actually sits.
HR Business Partner pay is lagging the national market sharply.
Metro median advertised pay of $75,619 trails the national figure of $83,766 even as both trend upward, a wider gap than most roles in this market show. Employers competing for HRBP talent against remote-eligible national postings may need to close this spread or lean harder on non-cash total rewards.
Benefits Manager pay is falling locally while rising nationally.
Metro median has moved down moderately to $107,200 against a national climb to $117,888, an unusual divergence given rising benefit costs are a near-universal pressure (BLS Employment Cost Index shows benefits up 3.8% year-over-year). Worth checking whether this reflects a thinner local candidate pool accepting lower offers or genuine softening in metro demand for the role.
Recruiter demand is up, but local pay still runs well below national rates.
Metro median advertised pay of $53,544 is rising moderately but sits roughly 21% below the $68,167 national median, consistent with a market where hiring volume is tourism-driven and seasonal rather than corporate and year-round. Expect continued difficulty attracting experienced in-house recruiters without adjusting pay toward national norms.
Median advertised pay by role — Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compensation Analyst * | $69,856 | $100,414 | $111,217 | Significant increase | $101,727 |
| HR Business Partner | $53,517 | $75,619 | $76,728 | Significant increase | $83,766 |
| Benefits Manager * | $78,500 | $107,200 | $121,595 | Moderate decline | $117,888 |
| HRIS Analyst * | $82,796 | $97,578 | $104,000 | Significant increase | $97,555 |
| HR Coordinator | $35,360 | $40,458 | $44,720 | Stable | $50,000 |
| Recruiter | $36,612 | $53,544 | $62,792 | Moderate increase | $68,167 |
| Payroll Specialist * | $46,904 | $54,443 | $64,418 | Moderate increase | $59,855 |
* 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
Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach MSA unemployment held at 4.2% in September as nonfarm payrolls grew by 29,000 year-over-year, with hiring activity still anchored to a leisure and hospitality sector that outpaced statewide employment growth earlier this year. Seasonal cooling from peak summer tourism staffing, combined with statewide wage growth of 4.0% against a national backdrop of easing hires rates, is producing a labor market that looks tight on headline numbers but is normalizing beneath the surface.
What it means
Slower national hiring urgency and a cooling post-summer tourism cycle give Horry County employers room to shift from reactive backfilling toward deliberate workforce planning, particularly in hospitality and retail roles that drove this year's job gains. Pay compression between entry-level and experienced workers statewide — professional/business services averaging $1,523/week versus $514/week in leisure/hospitality — suggests retention risk concentrated at the bottom of the pay scale even as headline wage growth looks healthy. Consider reviewing total rewards structures for hourly and seasonal-adjacent roles now, before the next tourism hiring cycle forces reactive pay adjustments.
Looking ahead
Seasonal inflection point: Horry County unemployment typically rises as peak tourism season ends; watch whether the 4.4% July reading climbs materially through Q4 as seasonal hospitality roles wind down, which would affect hourly wage negotiating leverage.
Potential talent inflow: National information-sector layoffs (Amazon, Meta, Oracle among filers) and a slowing hires rate nationally may push remote-capable professionals toward lower-cost coastal metros like Myrtle Beach. Watch application volume for professional/technical roles over the next two months as an early signal.
Emerging pressure point: South Carolina's skills gap in technical fields — engineering, advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity — has not eased, and Charleston's wage competition (5.7% growth) could pull mobile technical talent away from Horry County employers. Consider whether current pay positioning is competitive against neighboring coastal metros, not just national medians.
Worth watching: Statewide WARN activity remains modest (33 notices, 4,155 workers YTD) with no Horry County filings reported this month, suggesting layoff-driven candidate supply is unlikely to ease hiring pressure locally in the near term.
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.