Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Ogden-Clearfield, UT MSA — September 2026
Ogden jobs shrink 1.1% even as unemployment holds at 3.5%
Weber County payrolls fell 1.1% year-over-year to 125,027 jobs while the metro unemployment rate held steady at 3.5%, well below the national 4.1% rate, as healthcare and hospitality carried the region's modest growth.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Weber County employment change: -1.1% — 125,027 jobs, Aug 2026 vs Aug 2025
- Metro unemployment rate: 3.5% — vs 4.1% national, 3.5% Utah statewide
- National real wage growth: 3.0% wages vs 3.4% inflation — Weakest since May 2021
- Northern Utah government job loss: -1,090 jobs — Tied to $12.7M state budget shortfall
Key takeaways
Job count and jobless rate are telling different stories.
Weber County employment dropped 1.1% year-over-year while the unemployment rate stayed flat at 3.5%, a gap that is consistent with employer caution and reduced churn rather than a surge in job losses. Commerce leaders should treat this as a signal of a plateauing, not weakening, local labor market.
Healthcare and hospitality are carrying metro job growth.
Education/health services (+800 jobs) and leisure/hospitality (+384 jobs) posted the metro's clearest gains, alongside a 1.9% rise in financial activities. That concentration suggests consumer-facing and demographic-driven sectors, not goods-producing industries, are currently setting the area's growth pace.
Skilled trades pay is outrunning broader wage trends.
HVAC Technician advertised pay rose significantly to $76,630 and Registered Nurse pay to $92,050, both outpacing the metro's otherwise stable-to-soft wage picture. Divergence of this size in specific trade and clinical roles may reflect localized demand pressure tied to housing and healthcare capacity rather than a general wage acceleration.
Construction and logistics wages are softening locally.
Construction Laborer pay fell moderately to $39,520 and Warehouse Manager pay dropped significantly to $54,301, both underperforming their national counterparts. Combined with statewide construction weakness, this points to a sector-specific cooling that commerce and development leaders should track against building permit and project pipeline data.
Median advertised pay by role — Ogden-Clearfield, UT MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $25,932 | $31,470 | $34,195 | Stable | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $26,796 | $30,007 | $32,240 | Stable | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $31,678 | $36,010 | $39,367 | Stable | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $58,613 | $78,517 | $86,270 | Stable | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $30,947 | $33,386 | $38,910 | Moderate decline | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $33,895 | $39,520 | $43,680 | Moderate decline | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $58,770 | $71,150 | $78,772 | Stable | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $32,966 | $38,906 | $42,640 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $33,281 | $37,440 | $40,560 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $31,200 | $35,851 | $39,088 | Moderate increase | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $34,320 | $39,520 | $42,452 | Stable | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $34,230 | $41,785 | $48,385 | Stable | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician | $61,722 | $76,630 | $82,637 | Significant increase | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $80,000 | $92,050 | $105,054 | Significant increase | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer | $113,450 | $148,378 | $163,874 | Moderate increase | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer | $96,917 | $127,834 | $144,615 | Moderate increase | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $56,397 | $68,647 | $78,000 | Moderate increase | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst | $69,437 | $92,059 | $102,501 | Significant increase | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $54,017 | $68,673 | $74,978 | Moderate decline | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist | $43,218 | $61,640 | $70,600 | Moderate increase | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager | $71,299 | $87,369 | $96,380 | Significant increase | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $32,240 | $50,245 | $56,062 | Significant increase | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $65,000 | $100,000 | $117,598 | Significant increase | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $46,118 | $54,301 | $55,000 | Significant decline | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $76,696 | $94,711 | $103,869 | Moderate increase | $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 | $73,500 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $113,725 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $37,013 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $64,350 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Information | $139,577 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $85,705 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $74,880 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $58,500 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $32,271 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Government | $67,247 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Weber County payrolls fell 1.1% year-over-year to 125,027 jobs in August even as the metro unemployment rate held at a low 3.5%, a divergence consistent with employer caution rather than worker displacement. Growth concentrated in education/health services (+800 jobs, +1.7%) and leisure/hospitality (+384 jobs), while manufacturing and professional/business services contracted, mirroring the statewide pattern of knowledge and service-sector resilience against blue-collar softness.
What it means
Falling payroll counts alongside stable unemployment suggests employers are managing headcount through attrition rather than layoffs, a pattern commerce leaders should read as cautious stability rather than contraction. Advertised pay for Registered Nurse (up significant, $92,050) and HVAC Technician (up significant, $76,630) signals continued investment capacity in healthcare and skilled trades even as construction labor and warehouse management pay soften, pointing to an uneven but not broadly weakening local business climate. Consider monitoring whether education/health hiring momentum translates into broader services spending, a useful proxy for consumer-facing business conditions heading into the fourth quarter.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Weber County's year-over-year payroll decline (-1.1%) warrants a second read next month to confirm whether it reflects a data revision, seasonal effect, or a genuine slowdown. A repeat decline alongside stable unemployment would strengthen the case for a broader cooling narrative.
Emerging pressure point: Northern Utah government employment fell 1,090 jobs tied to a $12.7 million state budget shortfall and federal civilian reductions. Continued public-sector contraction would remove a traditionally stable source of local payroll and spending.
Early indicator: Healthcare and skilled-trades pay (Registered Nurse, HVAC Technician) are rising sharply while construction and logistics pay softens. Watch whether this bifurcation widens, which would point to capacity constraints in specific in-demand trades rather than metro-wide wage pressure.
Potential inflection point: National wage growth has slipped to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation, the weakest real-wage picture since 2021. If that national erosion reaches Utah's otherwise resilient wage trend, it would pressure local consumer spending capacity even with unemployment staying low.
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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