Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC MSA — September 2026
Myrtle Beach unemployment outpaces the state as tourism cools
Myrtle Beach's 4.2 percent unemployment rate now matches the national figure and sits a full point above South Carolina's 3.2 percent, even as healthcare and skilled-trades pay continue climbing against falling food-service wages.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 4.2% — vs 3.2% SC statewide, matches 4.2% U.S. rate
- Metro nonfarm payroll growth: +29,000 jobs YoY — Broad-based but little monthly change by industry
- SC statewide wage growth: 4.0% YoY — To $1,296/week, Q1 2026, ranks 17th nationally
- National wage-vs-inflation gap: 3.0% wages vs 3.4% CPI — Lowest wage growth pace since May 2021
Key takeaways
Metro unemployment gap with the state keeps widening.
Myrtle Beach's 4.2 percent unemployment rate sits a full point above South Carolina's 3.2 percent and matches the national rate, a reversal from earlier 2026 months when the metro led the state in job growth. This is consistent with seasonal tourism cooling rather than a structural downturn, but it bears watching as the leading indicator for Q4 consumer spending capacity.
Wage softness clusters in the metro's largest employment base.
Food service pay is down significantly and retail-adjacent categories like customer service representative and marketing specialist are down moderately to significantly, even as national figures for the same roles hold stable or rise. Given leisure and hospitality's outsized share of local employment, this divergence may constrain real local purchasing power more than state or national wage data alone would suggest.
Healthcare and skilled trades are the metro's wage-growth outliers.
Registered nurse pay rose moderately and electrician pay rose moderately locally, tracking the statewide pattern of education/health services and construction leading job growth. This suggests the metro's wage momentum is concentrating in sectors tied to population growth and infrastructure rather than its traditional tourism base.
Labor force participation trends statewide outpace what's visible locally.
South Carolina's labor force grew by over 73,400 people over the past year, lifting participation to 58.9 percent, a sign of durable statewide expansion. Myrtle Beach-specific participation data lags in availability, making this a gap worth flagging for local economic development tracking rather than a confirmed local trend.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $23,571 | $28,947 | $31,609 | Stable | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $22,880 | $26,257 | $28,254 | Stable | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $29,124 | $34,320 | $37,440 | Stable | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $47,426 | $67,142 | $79,976 | Stable | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $29,215 | $32,796 | $35,612 | Significant decline | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $31,990 | $37,440 | $40,560 | Moderate decline | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $52,000 | $62,530 | $68,058 | Moderate increase | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $28,264 | $29,892 | $31,606 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $33,223 | $35,407 | $37,319 | Moderate decline | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $26,819 | $27,462 | $31,200 | Significant decline | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $31,796 | $36,400 | $38,480 | Stable | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $31,200 | $36,561 | $39,989 | Stable | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician | $54,775 | $67,600 | $72,800 | Moderate decline | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $76,604 | $87,500 | $96,659 | Moderate increase | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer | $128,192 | $141,536 | $141,934 | Moderate decline | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer * | $99,196 | $139,736 | $157,843 | Moderate increase | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $52,607 | $57,919 | $62,500 | Stable | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst | $65,374 | $72,974 | $79,407 | Moderate increase | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $48,622 | $58,372 | $60,599 | Stable | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist | $43,114 | $53,860 | $60,167 | Significant decline | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager * | $75,000 | $82,540 | $82,954 | Moderate increase | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $34,840 | $55,050 | $59,660 | Significant increase | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $58,000 | $84,114 | $94,518 | Stable | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $55,661 | $78,053 | $78,053 | Moderate increase | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst * | $72,870 | $90,182 | $102,577 | Stable | $98,279 |
* 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 | $59,252 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $61,000 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $34,206 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $39,520 | Significant decline | Significant increase |
| Information | $70,720 | Moderate increase | Significant decline |
| Financial Activities | $50,180 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $43,650 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $64,114 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $31,879 | Moderate decline | Significant increase |
| Government | $67,646 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach unemployment stood at 4.2 percent in September, a full point above South Carolina's 3.2 percent reading, even as the metro added 29,000 nonfarm payroll jobs over the year and continued to outpace statewide employment growth in earlier months of 2026. Tourism-season normalization appears to be driving the gap, with leisure and hospitality, the metro's dominant sector, showing seasonal cooling after a summer peak that pushed Horry County unemployment to 4.4 percent in July.
What it means
Metro unemployment running above the state and near the national 4.2 percent rate, paired with wage softness in consumer-facing categories like food service and retail (down significantly and down moderately, respectively), is consistent with a local economy still anchored to seasonal, lower-wage tourism activity rather than diversifying into higher-wage sectors at state-level pace. Commerce leaders weighing expansion or investment timing should note that healthcare and skilled trades, registered nursing up moderately and electricians up moderately in advertised pay, are the metro's clearest signals of durable demand, while consumer-facing sectors show more fragility. Current conditions suggest economic development priorities may benefit from tracking which sectors are adding wage momentum locally versus simply adding headcount seasonally.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Watch whether Myrtle Beach's unemployment rate narrows back toward the state's 3.2 percent level as the metro exits peak tourism season, or whether the gap persists into Q4, which would suggest softer year-round labor demand beyond normal seasonality.
Emerging pressure point: Food service and retail-adjacent advertised pay are falling locally while holding stable nationally. Sustained divergence would signal consumer-facing business margins are being protected at labor's expense, a dynamic relevant to any local retail or hospitality investment decision.
Policy-relevant signal: National wage growth has slipped to its lowest annual pace since May 2021 (3.0 percent) against 3.4 percent inflation, meaning real wages are no longer keeping pace nationally. Local economists should track whether South Carolina's stronger 4.0 percent statewide wage growth is enough to keep Horry County households ahead of inflation.
Early indicator: DP World's September 1 WARN filing in Spartanburg affecting 205 workers is the most recent of 33 statewide notices this year; none to date are metro-specific, but continued monitoring of WARN activity in coastal counties would flag early signs of commercial real estate or logistics-sector stress.
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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