Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA MSA — September 2026
Scranton engineering pay slides as national rates climb.
Network Engineer advertised pay fell to a metro median of $70,112 against a national figure of $114,400, even as local Help Desk pay jumped to $52,678 amid a tightening entry-level labor supply.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 4.7% — vs 4.1% Pennsylvania statewide (July 2026)
- Network Engineer pay gap: $70,112 metro vs $114,400 national — Local rate down significantly; national up moderate
- Luzerne County unemployment: 5.0% — Above metro (4.7%) and state (4.1%) rates
- PA WARN activity, trailing 90 days: 1,899 workers — 17 notices, concentrated in logistics/manufacturing
Key takeaways
Local Network Engineer pay is falling as national demand rises.
Metro median sits at $70,112, down significantly, while national median climbed to $114,400 — a gap wide enough to suggest local postings aren't competing for the same candidate pool. Organizations retaining in-house network engineering may be quietly losing talent to remote roles paying national rates.
Help Desk pay is spiking locally while the national rate stands still.
Metro median rose sharply to $52,678 against a flat national figure of $53,644, nearly closing a gap that typically favors national employers. This looks less like generosity and more like scarcity — a tight local labor supply for entry-tier IT support, consistent with the region's broader dependence on call-center and distribution hiring.
Software Engineer compensation is softening locally against a stable national market.
Metro median fell significantly to $114,325 while the national figure held steady at $153,652, widening an already substantial gap. Build-vs-buy decisions for software work may increasingly favor remote or outsourced delivery over local permanent hires at current advertised rates.
Data Scientist pay is rising fastest locally among all tracked roles.
Metro median climbed to $120,551, described as a significant increase, narrowing the distance to the national median of $148,250. This tracks national signals of outsized AI/data talent demand (Motion Recruitment reports mid-level AI engineers up 9.2% YoY) and may indicate the metro is finally pricing in analytics and AI-adjacent skill scarcity.
Median advertised pay by role — Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $91,310 | $120,551 | $139,810 | Significant increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $72,500 | $88,983 | $96,843 | Moderate increase | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $53,929 | $70,112 | $90,476 | Significant decline | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $107,334 | $114,325 | $156,000 | Significant decline | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $40,696 | $52,678 | $57,431 | Significant increase | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $84,520 | $101,546 | $117,314 | Moderate increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager * | $80,562 | $115,000 | $128,649 | Moderate increase | $117,530 |
* 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
Local market conditions
Scranton–Wilkes-Barre's metro unemployment rate held near 4.7% in July, slightly above the state's 4.1% and reflecting the region's continued dependence on distribution, call-center, and healthcare employment rather than tech-sector hiring. Advertised pay for core IT infrastructure roles is diverging sharply from national trends — Network Engineer and Software Engineer postings fell significantly locally even as national demand for the same roles rose, suggesting employers here are either under-leveling these roles or shifting hiring toward contract and remote-first models rather than competing head-to-head for resident talent.
What it means
Divergence between local and national pay for engineering-heavy roles signals that Moosic-area IT functions may be structurally disadvantaged in attracting senior infrastructure and software talent locally, pushing more of that work toward remote hires or outsourced delivery rather than in-metro headcount. Meanwhile, Help Desk/IT Support advertised pay rose sharply even as national support pay stayed flat — a sign that commodity support roles are getting harder, not easier, to fill locally despite the metro's reliance on call-center and distribution employment. Consider reviewing whether infrastructure and software engineering roles should be benchmarked against regional or national remote-labor pools rather than metro medians, given the risk that Scranton-area postings are underpriced relative to what comparable talent commands elsewhere.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Luzerne County unemployment at 5.0% runs above both the metro (4.7%) and state (4.1%) rates. Watch whether this gap widens and feeds a larger local candidate pool for support and infrastructure roles over the next two reporting cycles.
Emerging pressure point: Pennsylvania has logged 17 WARN notices affecting 1,899 workers in the past 90 days, concentrated in logistics and manufacturing rather than tech. IT leaders should watch whether displaced logistics-sector workers with systems or operations experience begin appearing in local support and administrator applicant pools.
Early indicator: National information-sector job losses in August (BLS) contrast with Pennsylvania's financial-activities sector hitting a record high in September. If financial-services employers expand IT hiring locally, expect further upward pressure on cybersecurity and data roles already showing the strongest local wage gains.
Potential inflection point: National tech job postings turned positive year-over-year for the first time in nearly four years (Indeed Hiring Lab, mid-September). Whether this translates into metro-level postings growth — rather than remaining concentrated in larger tech hubs — will shape whether local engineering pay stabilizes or continues diverging from national trends.
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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