Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · October 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice, FL MSA — October 2026
Sarasota job market climbs national rankings as local unemployment rises.
Sarasota and Manatee unemployment each moved roughly a point above year-ago levels even as the metro ranked No. 4 nationally for job-market momentum, with healthcare driving 61% of the state's recent job growth.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Sarasota County unemployment: 5.0% — August 2026, vs 4.2% year-ago regional rate
- Manatee County unemployment: 4.9% — August 2026, up from 4.2% a year ago
- Metro job-market ranking: No. 4 — LinkedIn 2026 'Cities on the Rise' list
- Healthcare share of FL job growth: 61% — August 2026, Health Care & Social Assistance sector
Key takeaways
Unemployment is rising even as the metro's job-market ranking climbs.
Sarasota and Manatee unemployment both moved up roughly a full point year-over-year even as LinkedIn ranked the metro No. 4 nationally for job-market momentum. The combination suggests more workers are entering or re-entering the local labor force faster than employers are absorbing them, pointing to labor-supply growth as the driver of the uptick.
Healthcare is carrying the region's job growth.
Health Care & Social Assistance accounted for 61% of Florida's August job growth, and Sarasota Memorial's 10,700-plus employees anchor that pattern locally. A metro this dependent on one sector for net job creation has less cushion if healthcare hiring demand softens.
Construction and delivery pay softness could signal a cooling goods-and-build economy.
Construction Laborer pay fell to a metro median of $38,480 and Delivery Driver pay slipped to $33,666, both moving against stable-to-rising national trends. That divergence is consistent with softer local building and logistics activity even as white-collar and healthcare wages hold or climb.
Manatee is outperforming Sarasota County on jobs, a gap worth tracking.
Manatee posted 1.4% year-over-year employment growth and led Florida counties in Q4 2025 job gains at 1.9%, while Sarasota County employment grew just 0.1%. Economic development planning that treats the two counties as a single unit may mask a meaningfully two-speed local economy.
Median advertised pay by role — Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice, FL MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $28,610 | $33,228 | $36,400 | Stable | $33,340 |
| Retail Cashier | $27,862 | $31,720 | $33,280 | Stable | $31,268 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $31,452 | $37,440 | $39,520 | Stable | $38,480 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $48,880 | $70,200 | $88,114 | Moderate increase | $78,872 |
| Delivery Driver | $31,199 | $33,666 | $39,520 | Moderate decline | $34,826 |
| Construction Laborer | $31,380 | $38,480 | $42,640 | Moderate decline | $40,727 |
| Electrician | $53,657 | $63,433 | $70,357 | Stable | $71,835 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $32,883 | $37,440 | $39,520 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $36,400 | $42,000 | $46,800 | Moderate increase | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $28,880 | $33,459 | $34,393 | Stable | $33,764 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $33,766 | $39,520 | $41,600 | Moderate increase | $41,600 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $35,408 | $41,600 | $44,745 | Stable | $44,552 |
| HVAC Technician | $58,750 | $72,446 | $75,920 | Significant increase | $71,406 |
| Registered Nurse | $77,118 | $85,000 | $91,305 | Stable | $102,252 |
| Software Engineer | $82,600 | $110,444 | $128,470 | Significant decline | $154,403 |
| Data Engineer * | $99,161 | $133,667 | $151,702 | Stable | $138,000 |
| Accountant | $57,542 | $66,653 | $72,508 | Stable | $72,000 |
| Financial Analyst | $70,873 | $85,790 | $98,534 | Stable | $94,646 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $51,652 | $63,173 | $71,111 | Moderate increase | $74,477 |
| Marketing Specialist | $51,266 | $70,000 | $72,086 | Significant increase | $62,916 |
| Operations Manager * | $60,000 | $71,115 | $87,000 | Stable | $86,294 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $34,403 | $50,715 | $52,000 | Stable | $55,908 |
| Account Manager | $59,068 | $79,389 | $90,000 | Moderate increase | $94,009 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $56,465 | $69,940 | $75,000 | Moderate decline | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $71,302 | $99,516 | $120,600 | Moderate decline | $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 | $51,660 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $70,000 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $36,120 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $48,323 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Information | $55,000 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $51,633 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $52,483 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $56,160 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $34,574 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Government | $66,550 | Stable | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice labor conditions tightened modestly in August, with Sarasota County unemployment at 5.0% and Manatee at 4.9%, both running roughly a full point above year-ago levels despite the metro's No. 4 ranking on LinkedIn's 2026 rising-job-market list. Momentum is concentrated in healthcare and professional/business services, consistent with the statewide pattern where Health Care & Social Assistance drove 61% of August job growth, while Manatee's 1.4% year-over-year employment gain and 2.1% wage growth suggest the two-county region is expanding faster than Sarasota County alone.
What it means
Rising unemployment alongside continued job-ad growth (job ads signal hiring demand; one ad often covers several openings) points to labor-force expansion outpacing job creation, a distinction that matters for how commerce leaders read local business conditions heading into 2027 planning cycles. Healthcare's outsized share of growth, anchored by employers like Sarasota Memorial, signals where the metro's economic base is thickening, while flat-to-declining advertised pay in construction labor ($38,480, down) and delivery driving ($33,666, down) points to softer demand in goods-movement and building trades even as HVAC technician pay rose significantly. Commerce and economic development leaders should consider tracking the gap between unemployment upticks and job-ad growth as a leading indicator of whether the metro is rebalancing labor supply or losing economic steam.
Looking ahead
Early indicator: Watch whether the gap between rising county unemployment rates and the metro's strong job-ad momentum (job ads signal hiring demand; one ad often covers several openings) narrows or widens over the next two reporting cycles — a persistent gap would point to labor-force growth outpacing local hiring demand.
Emerging pressure point: Construction labor and delivery driver pay have both softened locally against stable-to-rising national figures; combined with statewide concern over construction trade recruitment, this bears watching for signs of a broader building-sector slowdown in the region.
Worth watching: Healthcare's outsized share of local job growth means any shift in hospital system staffing or capacity plans, including at Sarasota Memorial, would have outsized effects on the metro's overall employment trajectory.
Potential inflection point: Manatee's stronger employment growth relative to Sarasota County may widen; county-level economic development and infrastructure planning may need to account for diverging trajectories alongside a single regional narrative.
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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