Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · October 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: NH NONMETROPOLITAN AREA — October 2026
Rural New Hampshire's labor market is tight — and aging out.
New Hampshire unemployment sits at 2.6% and the Lebanon-Claremont micropolitan area is the nation's tightest labor market, yet wage growth is lagging inflation by 1.6 points and workers aged 20-34 are shrinking as a share of the labor force.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- NH unemployment rate: 2.6% — September 2026, 3rd-lowest nationally
- Tightest U.S. labor market: Lebanon-Claremont — Ranked #1 nationally, Indeed Hiring Lab
- Wage growth vs. inflation gap: -1.6 pts — NH wages vs. CPI, Jan-Jul 2026
- Ongoing unemployment claims: +23% — vs. same period two years prior
Key takeaways
Tightest labor market in the nation sits inside this region.
Lebanon-Claremont's ranking as the country's tightest micropolitan labor market reflects retirements and a thin working-age population. Economic development leaders should treat this as a capacity constraint on growth, a signal to plan around rather than a success metric.
Wage gains are real but inflation is winning.
New Hampshire wage growth lagged inflation by an estimated 1.6 percentage points through July 2026, even as Hillsborough County posted 6.1% weekly wage growth — the strongest in the state. Purchasing power erosion of this kind tends to show up in local retail and services spending before it shows up in state revenue forecasts.
Small employers are carrying the state's job growth.
Firms with fewer than 20 employees generated 79% of New Hampshire's net private-sector job gains in 2025. Commerce leaders courting larger relocations or expansions should weigh this against the reality that small, locally-rooted businesses are the dominant growth engine in this market.
Young workers are thinning out of the labor force.
Workers aged 20-34 declined as a share of New Hampshire's labor force while those 35-plus gained share, a pattern the state's own fiscal policy institute links to affordability pressure. Left unaddressed, this trend narrows the long-term labor pool available to any expanding employer in the region.
Median advertised pay by role — NH NONMETROPOLITAN AREA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $27,702 | $33,228 | $36,140 | Stable | $33,340 |
| Retail Cashier | $29,178 | $33,572 | $36,140 | Stable | $31,268 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $33,170 | $38,950 | $41,600 | Moderate increase | $38,480 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $56,607 | $74,727 | $87,500 | Significant increase | $78,872 |
| Delivery Driver | $33,260 | $36,098 | $40,722 | Stable | $34,826 |
| Construction Laborer | $40,186 | $45,000 | $49,920 | Moderate increase | $40,727 |
| Electrician | $61,191 | $76,960 | $83,892 | Stable | $71,835 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $36,400 | $43,537 | $46,800 | Moderate increase | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $33,614 | $38,476 | $41,600 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $32,473 | $35,631 | $37,570 | Moderate increase | $33,764 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $37,000 | $45,391 | $49,920 | Moderate increase | $41,600 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $37,047 | $46,800 | $52,000 | Moderate increase | $44,552 |
| HVAC Technician | $71,072 | $90,000 | $90,000 | Significant increase | $71,406 |
| Registered Nurse | $91,408 | $113,246 | $122,939 | Significant increase | $102,252 |
| Software Engineer | $134,912 | $163,472 | $173,871 | Moderate increase | $154,403 |
| Data Engineer | $106,501 | $140,290 | $151,639 | Moderate increase | $138,000 |
| Accountant | $60,508 | $69,272 | $75,000 | Stable | $72,000 |
| Financial Analyst | $75,326 | $91,817 | $112,668 | Moderate decline | $94,646 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $64,307 | $78,723 | $93,500 | Significant increase | $74,477 |
| Marketing Specialist | $49,893 | $73,602 | $92,500 | Significant increase | $62,916 |
| Operations Manager * | $70,000 | $75,000 | $85,000 | No data | $86,294 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $39,520 | $56,799 | $66,560 | Significant increase | $55,908 |
| Account Manager | $67,924 | $94,127 | $112,171 | Significant increase | $94,009 |
| Warehouse Manager | — | — | — | No data | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $82,352 | $99,681 | $106,692 | Significant increase | $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 | $61,651 | Significant increase | Significant decline |
| Manufacturing | $91,769 | Significant increase | Significant decline |
| Retail Trade | $38,377 | Moderate increase | Significant decline |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $42,136 | Significant decline | Significant increase |
| Information | $145,531 | Significant increase | Significant decline |
| Financial Activities | $77,220 | Moderate increase | Moderate increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $75,091 | Significant increase | Stable |
| Education & Health Services | $81,150 | Significant increase | Moderate decline |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $34,604 | Moderate decline | Significant decline |
| Government | $58,354 | Stable | Moderate decline |
Local market conditions
New Hampshire's nonmetropolitan areas continue to post some of the tightest labor market conditions in the country, with statewide unemployment at 2.6% in September — third-lowest nationally — even as official metro-level data for this geography remains unpublished pending BLS's December release. Healthcare and social assistance anchor job growth across the state's rural and small-city labor markets, while manufacturing, retail, and wholesale trade continue to contract, and the Lebanon-Claremont micropolitan area — straddling this nonmetropolitan territory — ranks as the nation's tightest labor market, a signal of acute worker scarcity tied to retirements and thin regional labor supply.
What it means
Scarcity in this labor market is structural, driven by demographic contraction and retirements, meaning the tight conditions commerce leaders see today are likely to persist through any near-term economic cycle. Local government and school budgets face a parallel pressure: state and federal public-sector employment contracted this year even as local government held roughly flat, suggesting municipal fiscal planning should account for continued wage competition from healthcare and skilled trades employers drawing from the same limited labor pool. Current conditions suggest economic development leaders evaluate whether workforce-attraction strategies account for the 20-34 age cohort's declining labor force presence, a demographic signal with direct bearing on long-term regional competitiveness.
Looking ahead
Data release to watch: BLS metro-level employment and unemployment data for this nonmetropolitan area will not publish until December 2, 2026, leaving a reporting gap for any leader needing current local figures. Treat state-level and county-level readings as the best available proxy until then.
Emerging pressure point: Ongoing unemployment claims statewide ran 23% above year-ago levels through mid-2026 despite low headline unemployment, suggesting longer job-search durations once workers are displaced. Watch whether this claims trend continues alongside continued low unemployment — a divergence worth flagging to state economists.
Policy signal: Federal labor force curbs tied to immigration policy and retirement-driven exits are cited nationally as structural drags on labor force growth; New Hampshire was the only New England state to grow its labor force over the year ending June 2026. Whether that advantage holds through year-end matters for any regional competitiveness comparison.
Worth watching: Public-sector employment fell at the federal (-3.3%) and state (-3.5%) level this year while local government inched up 0.2%. Municipal and county leaders should monitor whether local government payrolls absorb any further softness or hold steady into 2027 budget cycles.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — NH unemployment at 2.6% in September 2026, third-lowest nationally
- Indeed Hiring Lab — Lebanon-Claremont micropolitan area has the tightest labor market nationally
- Business NH Magazine — Firms under 20 employees drove 79% of NH net private job growth in 2025
- NHPR citing federal wage data — Hillsborough County weekly wages grew 6.1%, highest in state
- NH Employment Security / BLS — Federal and state government employment declined 3.3% and 3.5% respectively
- NH Fiscal Policy Institute / Concord Monitor — Ongoing unemployment claims up 23% vs. two years prior through mid-2026
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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