Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA — September 2026
Philadelphia's record payrolls mask a cooling, uneven expansion.
Pennsylvania notched its 17th straight month of record nonfarm payrolls even as government and construction employment fell and national wage growth slipped to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 4.1% — July 2026, matches national 4.1% August reading
- PA nonfarm payroll streak: 17 months — Consecutive months at record high, Sept 2026
- National wage vs inflation gap: 3.0% vs 3.4% — Wage growth below inflation for first time in 2 yrs
- PA labor force dropouts: 15,000+ — Up from ~8,000 in early 2025, Q3 2025 data
Key takeaways
Healthcare keeps carrying Pennsylvania's job growth story.
Statewide, health and education plus leisure/hospitality accounted for 36,000 of the jobs added since August 2025, while government, construction, trade/transportation and information lost 13,900 combined. Locally, Registered Nurse advertised pay rose significantly to $102,773, reinforcing that labor demand in the metro is increasingly concentrated rather than broad-based.
Real wages are no longer outrunning inflation nationally.
National average hourly earnings growth fell to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation, reversing two years of real wage gains above 1.0% annually. A metro with record nonfarm payroll counts but flat-to-declining real wages points to a labor market that looks stable on paper but offers less consumer purchasing-power cushion than headline figures suggest.
Public-sector softness is a Pennsylvania story, not just a Washington one.
Government employment in Pennsylvania remained below year-ago levels even as the state notched its 17th straight month of record total nonfarm jobs, and national government payrolls shed 17,000 in September alone. Commerce leaders dependent on public-sector spending or procurement should treat continued softness as a structural trend worth monitoring, not a one-month anomaly.
Labor force participation is quietly eroding state confidence signals.
Pennsylvania workers exiting the labor force rose from roughly 8,000 in early 2025 to over 15,000 by Q3 2025, even as unemployment stayed near historic lows. A shrinking participation rate alongside stable unemployment can flatter headline numbers while masking weaker underlying labor supply and consumer demand.
Median advertised pay by role — Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $27,536 | $34,320 | $36,749 | Stable | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $27,560 | $32,683 | $34,153 | Stable | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $33,605 | $38,324 | $41,600 | Stable | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $58,671 | $80,000 | $92,500 | Stable | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $32,354 | $35,000 | $39,688 | Stable | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $36,248 | $41,600 | $45,760 | Stable | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $61,153 | $72,800 | $75,074 | Significant increase | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $34,320 | $39,520 | $43,680 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $35,360 | $41,600 | $45,760 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $30,172 | $33,280 | $35,360 | Stable | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $34,320 | $41,600 | $45,240 | Stable | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $37,162 | $45,240 | $50,000 | Stable | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician | $62,834 | $78,000 | $83,200 | Moderate increase | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $85,899 | $102,773 | $112,549 | Significant increase | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer | $114,616 | $143,272 | $156,945 | Moderate increase | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer | $99,095 | $128,916 | $146,661 | Stable | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $63,035 | $73,260 | $82,500 | Stable | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst | $73,966 | $93,025 | $102,573 | Stable | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $59,832 | $69,853 | $80,553 | Stable | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist | $51,815 | $66,296 | $72,184 | Stable | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager | $75,000 | $104,646 | $122,365 | Significant increase | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $36,400 | $58,225 | $67,500 | Significant increase | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $65,000 | $88,699 | $103,422 | Moderate increase | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager | $52,917 | $78,000 | $80,000 | Moderate decline | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $83,560 | $96,923 | $106,145 | Stable | $98,279 |
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 | $67,500 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $121,500 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $38,563 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $43,786 | Significant decline | Significant increase |
| Information | $103,434 | Moderate increase | Significant decline |
| Financial Activities | $98,143 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $65,861 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $58,240 | Moderate increase | Moderate increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $34,557 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Government | $68,283 | Significant increase | Moderate decline |
Local market conditions
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington held a 4.1% unemployment rate in the most recent available metro reading as national payroll growth slowed sharply to 29,000 jobs in September and wage growth nationally fell to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation, a gap now showing up in regional purchasing-power data. Pennsylvania's own record-high nonfarm payroll streak (17 consecutive months) masks sector divergence that mirrors the metro: health and education employment continues expanding while government, construction, and information-sector positions contract, consistent with a cooling but not contracting regional economy.
What it means
Divergent sector momentum — healthcare and education expanding while government and construction soften — suggests commerce leaders should weigh expansion or investment decisions sector by sector rather than treating the metro as a single economic signal. Advertised pay for Operations Manager ($104,646, up significantly) and Registered Nurse ($102,773, up significantly) locally points to continued demand-side strength in healthcare and operations-heavy functions even as broader wage growth cools nationally. Organizations evaluating local investment or expansion timing may want to weight sector-specific indicators, particularly healthcare demand and public-sector stability, over the aggregate unemployment figure alone.
Looking ahead
Expected release: BLS metro-level September data for Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington is due in early October; watch whether the 4.1% unemployment rate holds or ticks toward the 4.2% national figure recorded for September.
Emerging pressure point: Pennsylvania WARN filings have logged 174 notices over 24 months affecting nearly 28,000 workers; any concentration of new filings in Philadelphia-area logistics or retail (following statewide hits like Jerith Manufacturing in Philadelphia) would be a tangible local signal to track.
Worth watching: County-level divergence — Bucks County posted the state's largest employment loss at -1.3% — suggests uneven conditions across the metro's suburban counties that a single regional unemployment rate can obscure.
Potential inflection point: Pennsylvania's H.B. 2189 minimum wage increase has passed the House but remains stalled in the Senate; any movement would be a bare, reportable policy fact relevant to retail- and service-sector cost structures regardless of political framing.
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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