Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Shreveport-Bossier City, LA MSA — October 2026
Shreveport IT pay splits sharply by role this month.
Systems Administrator advertised pay climbed to $108,856, above the $102,503 national median, while Network Engineer pay fell to $57,300 against a $115,757 national figure.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Systems Administrator metro pay: $108,856 — vs $102,503 national median
- Network Engineer metro pay: $57,300 — vs $115,757 national median
- Metro nonfarm employment growth: 0.3% YoY — August 2026, 171,200 jobs
- Louisiana quits vs layoffs: 43,000 vs 22,000 — October 2025 state data, signals churn
Key takeaways
Systems Administrator pay is bucking the local trend.
Metro median of $108,856 now exceeds the national figure of $102,503, a reversal from most other IT roles tracked this month. Retention budgets for infrastructure staff may need to move ahead of national benchmarks to stay in front of them.
Network Engineer pay collapse looks like a thin-market signal.
Metro median fell to $57,300 against a national median of $115,757 — roughly half. A gap this wide is more consistent with a shrinking pool of local advertisers setting lower anchor rates than with declining need for network skills, and may understate what competitive local hires actually cost.
Cybersecurity Analyst pay softened locally while national demand firmed.
Metro median fell to $105,075 even as the national figure rose to $107,327, a divergence worth tracking given 133,417 national tech layoffs through October 21 have not clearly loosened specialized security talent pools. Local security hiring may require premiums above what current advertised data implies.
Construction's wage pull is a quiet threat to IT support retention.
Construction employment grew 12.4% year-over-year locally while Help Desk/IT Support pay fell to $46,375, moderate and declining. Entry-level IT staff weighing trades work against stagnant support wages represent a retention exposure that compensation reviews should flag.
Median advertised pay by role — Shreveport-Bossier City, LA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $92,823 | $93,451 | $102,086 | Significant increase | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $75,000 | $108,856 | $122,080 | Significant increase | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $49,001 | $57,300 | $77,173 | Significant decline | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $90,725 | $124,769 | $135,388 | Significant decline | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $38,989 | $46,375 | $47,840 | Moderate decline | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $79,322 | $105,075 | $133,002 | Significant decline | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager * | $79,462 | $114,290 | $125,776 | Stable | $118,150 |
* 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
Shreveport-Bossier's nonfarm employment edged up 0.3% year-over-year in August 2026, with construction expanding 12.4% and absorbing the metro's limited labor supply growth while leisure/hospitality (-2.9%) and government (-3%) contracted, leaving IT and professional roles to compete against a tightening construction-driven wage floor. Statewide quit rates remain elevated — 43,000 quits against 22,000 layoffs as of October 2025 data — signaling that Shreveport IT employers face active churn risk even as net payroll growth stays modest.
What it means
Metro advertised pay for Systems Administrator rose to $108,856, outpacing the national median of $102,503, while Network Engineer, Software Engineer, and Cybersecurity Analyst roles all show significant local declines against rising or stable national figures — a divergence that likely reflects a thinning local employer base bidding down specialized postings while demand for the skills themselves holds steady. This split complicates build-vs-buy decisions: infrastructure and systems administration talent is pricing itself competitively relative to national rates, which argues for retention investment, while network engineering and cybersecurity postings may reflect fewer local employers competing for scarce talent, pushing those functions toward remote hires or managed-services arrangements. Organizations should evaluate whether declining local cybersecurity and network engineering pay reflects a thinner local employer base while demand holds steady before resetting internal compensation bands for those roles.
Looking ahead
Early indicator: Watch whether Louisiana's statewide 43,000-to-22,000 quits-to-layoffs ratio shows up locally in Shreveport IT turnover data over the next reporting cycle — a sign that competitive poaching is the dominant retention risk.
Emerging pressure point: Network Engineer and Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay have diverged sharply from national trends; a narrowing of that gap in November postings would confirm a thin local market correcting, while persistence suggests employers should budget above metro medians to compete.
Worth watching: City of Shreveport's proposed 3% municipal raise, moved up from March 2027 amid public-sector pay disputes, may set a local reference point other employers use in compensation conversations with IT and support staff.
Potential inflection point: National data center postings grew 20% in three months while tech hubs pull back hiring — monitor whether any of that infrastructure investment activity extends into Louisiana's industrial corridor, which would shift local demand toward systems and network roles.
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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