Labor Market Pulse · Finance · August 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: NE NONMETROPOLITAN AREA — August 2026
Nonmetro Nebraska controller and FP&A pay slide as national pay holds.
Metro Controller pay sits at $96,405 against a stable $112,500 national median, while statewide unemployment holds at 2.9% and Financial Activities employment fell 1,400 jobs over the year.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of August 2026.
Key indicators
- Nebraska unemployment rate: 2.9% — vs 4.1% national, unchanged from July
- Controller advertised pay, metro: $96,405 — vs $112,500 national median, trending down
- Financial Activities employment: -1,400 jobs — Statewide, over trailing 12 months
- Candidates per job opening: 1.4 — Statewide NEworks data, tight supply
Key takeaways
Local controller pay is falling as national pay holds firm.
Metro Controller advertised pay sits at $96,405 against a stable $112,500 national median, a widening gap that may signal nonmetro employers under-pricing a role increasingly benchmarked against remote and hybrid opportunities. Retention risk grows if incumbents recognize the spread.
FP&A Manager pay softening locally cuts against a national AI premium story.
Metro FP&A Manager pay is down moderately to $122,293 even as national demand for AI-literate forecasting talent is pushing premiums as high as 56% for related skills elsewhere. Nonmetro finance teams risk losing forecasting talent to markets pricing in automation skill sets.
Credit Analyst and Tax Specialist roles show the sharpest local-national divergence.
Both roles show significant local declines (Credit Analyst to $55,000, Tax Specialist to $45,596) while national medians move up moderately to significantly. Consider evaluating whether these roles are becoming harder to fill locally, or whether postings are simply lagging market reality.
Statewide Financial Activities employment contraction is a quiet budgeting signal.
A 1,400-job decline over 12 months statewide in Financial Activities, even amid overall payroll growth, is consistent with finance functions consolidating or automating rather than expanding headcount. This may ease near-term hiring pressure but raises succession-planning questions for controller and analyst pipelines.
Median advertised pay by role — NE NONMETROPOLITAN AREA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | $83,242 | $96,405 | $107,500 | Significant decline | $112,500 |
| Senior Accountant | $70,670 | $80,314 | $83,990 | Stable | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst | $72,253 | $87,500 | $97,869 | Stable | $82,905 |
| Billing Specialist | $37,158 | $42,827 | $45,760 | Moderate decline | $49,700 |
| Tax Specialist | $36,569 | $45,596 | $52,537 | Moderate decline | $66,725 |
| Credit Analyst | $51,147 | $55,000 | $74,920 | Significant decline | $72,000 |
| FP&A Manager | $109,208 | $122,293 | $122,619 | Moderate decline | $127,341 |
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
Rural Nebraska's labor market stays historically tight, with the statewide unemployment rate holding at 2.9% in August and roughly 1.4 candidates per open role statewide, leaving nonmetro employers competing for a shrinking applicant pool. Finance and accounting-adjacent hiring in the region is complicated further by a 1,400-job decline in Financial Activities employment over the past 12 months statewide, even as Private Education and Health Services continues to absorb available labor.
What it means
Persistent labor scarcity in nonmetro Nebraska means Finance functions are competing not just on pay but on role scope and flexibility to fill controller, FP&A, and analyst seats, and the 12-month contraction in Financial Activities employment statewide suggests some organizations are consolidating finance headcount rather than expanding it. Advertised pay for Controller ($96,405 metro median) and FP&A Manager ($122,293) both trending down locally while national medians hold stable points to a metro-specific compression that could complicate retention if talent benchmarks against national postings. Consider reviewing whether current controller and FP&A offers are being anchored to outdated local pay data rather than the national trend line remote-capable candidates now see.
Looking ahead
Expected: BLS metro-level unemployment and employment data for the nonmetro area publishes September 30, closing the current data gap and giving Finance leaders their first true metro-specific read for August.
Emerging pressure point: Nebraska's mini-WARN Act, effective July 18, now requires 90 days' notice versus the federal 60-day standard; watch for additional nonmetro WARN filings that could add finance and accounting talent to the local pool ahead of Q4 budget cycles.
Worth watching: Minimum wage calculation changes under LB 258 hold steady through year-end before a 1.75% annual escalator begins January 2027, a fixed input FP&A teams can now build directly into 2027 labor cost forecasts.
Potential inflection point: National AI-skill pay premiums (up to 56% for related expertise) have not yet visibly reached nonmetro Nebraska postings; a shift here would signal talent competition finally reaching rural finance teams and warrant a compensation benchmarking review.
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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