Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Peoria, IL MSA — September 2026
Peoria's jobless rate falls as its labor force shrinks.
Peoria metro unemployment eased to 4.5% in August even as the region shed jobs most months this year, while Peoria County's 6.9% wage gain led large Illinois counties amid a thinning labor pool.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Peoria MSA unemployment rate: 4.5% — Down from 4.7% in July 2026
- Peoria average monthly job change, 2026: -100 jobs/mo avg — 7th-worst job growth among tracked metros
- Peoria County weekly wage growth, Q1 2026: +6.9% — Largest gain among large Illinois counties
- Illinois labor force, Aug 2026: 6,477,000 — Down from 6,571,000 in March 2026
Key takeaways
Peoria's falling jobless rate hides a shrinking labor market.
Unemployment dropped to 4.5% in August from 4.7% in July, but the metro has lost jobs in nine of the past twelve months, averaging about 100 monthly. A declining rate driven by fewer people in the labor force, not stronger hiring, is a weaker signal for local business conditions than the headline suggests.
Wage growth outpaces the state despite a soft job count.
Peoria County's 6.9% average weekly wage gain in Q1 2026 led all large Illinois counties, even as county employment edged down 0.3% in March. Concentrated gains in a tightening pool of workers can lift average pay figures without reflecting broader economic expansion.
Construction and health services are carrying local momentum.
April 2026 data show Mining-Construction up 600 jobs and Private Education-Health Services up 300, while Financial Activities, Manufacturing, Retail Trade and Leisure-Hospitality all declined. A narrow base of growth sectors makes the metro's overall trajectory more sensitive to conditions in construction and healthcare specifically.
National wage-inflation gap compounds local purchasing power concerns.
National wage growth slowed to 3.0% annually against 3.4% inflation in September, the weakest wage reading since 2021, while CDL Truck Driver and Delivery Driver advertised pay in Peoria both fell significantly this month. Falling wages in metro transportation roles against a national backdrop of eroding real earnings suggests local consumer spending capacity bears watching.
Median advertised pay by role — Peoria, IL MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $29,120 | $32,500 | $35,360 | Stable | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $29,325 | $33,280 | $34,320 | Stable | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $33,280 | $39,520 | $41,600 | Moderate increase | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $58,017 | $70,622 | $82,615 | Significant decline | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $29,185 | $32,270 | $36,140 | Significant decline | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $34,840 | $39,520 | $42,640 | Moderate decline | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $64,074 | $75,009 | $79,846 | Moderate increase | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $35,360 | $42,640 | $48,100 | Significant decline | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $32,240 | $37,440 | $41,292 | Moderate decline | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $30,071 | $36,400 | $37,325 | Stable | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $38,775 | $43,004 | $45,760 | Stable | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $36,920 | $41,600 | $43,869 | Moderate increase | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician | $57,200 | $65,258 | $72,368 | Moderate increase | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $88,795 | $111,613 | $119,325 | Significant increase | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer | $68,232 | $115,000 | $128,098 | Moderate increase | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer | $89,671 | $116,961 | $128,005 | Moderate increase | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $55,263 | $72,800 | $88,529 | Stable | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst | $74,004 | $74,143 | $75,106 | Stable | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $58,500 | $72,900 | $86,396 | Significant increase | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist | $53,500 | $65,000 | $65,666 | Significant increase | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager * | $74,506 | $98,612 | $105,250 | Moderate increase | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $35,880 | $49,115 | $56,909 | Significant increase | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $74,219 | $99,143 | $118,500 | Significant increase | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $65,000 | $87,500 | $91,350 | Moderate decline | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $82,487 | $93,476 | $105,560 | Moderate decline | $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 | $65,000 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $72,800 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $35,360 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $64,186 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Information | $47,012 | Significant decline | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $59,280 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $111,510 | Moderate decline | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $67,527 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $33,830 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Government | $65,634 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Peoria metro unemployment improved to 4.5% in August 2026 from 4.7% in July, even as the metro's underlying payroll base has shrunk for most of the year, averaging roughly 100 job losses per month and ranking seventh-worst nationally in 2026 job growth. Peoria County posted the largest weekly wage gain of any large Illinois county at +6.9% in the first quarter, a divergence that appears to reflect a thinning labor force and concentrated gains in construction and health services rather than broad-based hiring strength.
What it means
Falling unemployment paired with shrinking payrolls points to labor supply contraction rather than demand strength, a distinction that matters for anyone reading local jobless numbers as a simple growth signal. Commerce leaders weighing expansion or investment locally should treat the headline unemployment improvement with caution and look instead at payroll and labor-force trends as the more reliable gauge of underlying momentum; government economists tracking workforce participation should watch whether Peoria's labor force continues contracting alongside the statewide pattern already visible in Illinois data. Consider evaluating local economic health using payroll employment and labor force size together, rather than unemployment rate alone, before drawing conclusions about business climate direction.
Looking ahead
Expected: BLS releases September 2026 detailed Peoria payroll data in late October. Confirmation of whether the metro's job-loss streak continued or reversed will matter more to assessing local business climate than any single unemployment-rate reading.
Worth watching: Illinois's statewide labor force contracted from 6,571,000 in March to 6,477,000 by August, a pattern Moody's attributes partly to demographic and migration headwinds rather than stronger job creation. Watch whether Peoria's labor force shows a similar contraction when county-level data updates, which would reinforce the supply-constraint reading over a demand-strength one.
Emerging pressure point: Illinois WARN filings reached 91 notices affecting 16,782 workers year-to-date, with recent notices from Uber, GoHealth and T-Mobile concentrated in the Chicago area rather than Peoria. Government economists should monitor whether downstate notices rise as national WARN activity (3,562 notices, 313,234 workers as of late September) continues at a pace comparable to 2025.
Potential inflection point: National nonfarm payrolls added just 29,000 jobs in September with July and August revised down a combined 60,000, suggesting national hiring momentum is cooling faster than previously estimated. A softer national backdrop narrows the margin for metro-level sectors like construction and healthcare to keep offsetting Peoria's broader payroll decline.
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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