Labor Market Pulse · Human Resources · October 2026
Human Resources Labor Market Report: Sioux City, IA-NE-SD MSA — October 2026
Sioux City's labor pool shrinks faster than its job demand.
Woodbury County unemployment near 3.7% and a statewide labor force down nearly 20,000 workers are tightening Sioux City's talent pool even as HRIS Analyst pay climbs to $84,080 locally.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Woodbury County unemployment: 3.7% — Aug 2026, vs 4.1% national rate
- Iowa labor force decline: -19,800 — Year-over-year, Sept 2026
- Sioux City MSA unemployment: 3.2% — June 2026, down from 3.3% YoY
- Iowa open positions: 60,378 — Statewide job openings, Oct 2026
Key takeaways
Sioux City's labor pool is shrinking faster than demand.
Woodbury County unemployment sits near 3.7% against a statewide labor force that fell by nearly 20,000 workers year over year, meaning fewer candidates are available even where job openings hold steady. Workforce planning should assume longer time-to-fill windows than national benchmarks imply.
HR function pay is splitting across roles.
Payroll Specialist advertised pay rose significantly locally while Recruiter pay fell significantly — a divergence that suggests employers are reallocating HR budget toward operational/compliance roles as hiring volume cools. Compensation reviews should treat HR job families individually rather than applying a single department-wide adjustment.
HRIS Analyst pay signals rising investment in HR technology.
Metro HRIS Analyst pay climbed significantly to a median of $84,080, narrowing the gap with the national figure of $95,000 faster than most other HR roles tracked. That pattern is consistent with employers prioritizing system and data infrastructure as hiring slows and retention becomes the primary lever.
Manufacturing and healthcare remain the metro's wage anchors.
Statewide, healthcare and construction employment hit record highs while manufacturing faces elevated WARN activity, a split likely mirrored locally given Sioux City's manufacturing base of roughly 16,000 jobs. HR leaders in healthcare-adjacent roles may have more room to compete on pay than counterparts in exposed manufacturing segments.
Median advertised pay by role — Sioux City, IA-NE-SD MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compensation Analyst * | $77,684 | $90,787 | $99,332 | Moderate decline | $100,798 |
| HR Business Partner | $49,375 | $66,710 | $75,958 | Moderate increase | $83,900 |
| Benefits Manager * | $70,000 | $90,000 | $100,000 | Moderate increase | $118,618 |
| HRIS Analyst * | $75,098 | $84,080 | $99,854 | Significant increase | $95,000 |
| HR Coordinator * | $38,283 | $45,200 | $52,057 | Stable | $50,460 |
| Recruiter | $33,000 | $52,054 | $61,309 | Significant decline | $67,234 |
| Payroll Specialist | $38,480 | $46,498 | $49,698 | Significant increase | $61,103 |
* 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
Sioux City metro unemployment held near 3.2% through mid-2026, tighter than the national 4.1% rate and consistent with a labor force that continues to contract as Woodbury County's working-age population shrinks alongside statewide declines of nearly 20,000 workers year over year. Manufacturing and healthcare anchor local demand even as national white-collar sectors shed jobs, leaving Sioux City employers competing for a shallower candidate pool than national conditions would suggest.
What it means
Tight local unemployment combined with Iowa's shrinking labor force means recruitment timelines in Sioux City will likely stay elongated regardless of national hiring softness, and mid-market employers here face the same retention-over-recruitment pressure documented statewide. Compensation teams should also reconcile divergent signals in advertised pay for HR roles themselves — Recruiter pay down significantly while Payroll Specialist and HRIS Analyst pay rose sharply — before assuming uniform market movement across functions. Consider reviewing role-level advertised pay trends before applying blanket merit budgets across HR job families this cycle.
Looking ahead
Early indicator: October MSA-level unemployment data has not yet posted from BLS; watch for release to confirm whether the June 3.2% rate held or tightened further against the national 4.1%.
Emerging pressure point: Iowa labor force participation fell to 66.9% in September amid retirements and education returns. Track whether Sioux City's working-age population follows the state decline, which would deepen recruitment difficulty into 2027 planning cycles.
Worth watching: Wells Fargo's Iowa layoffs reached 460 workers this year, concentrated in West Des Moines. Monitor whether released financial-services talent migrates west into the Siouxland market, a pool local employers rarely see.
Potential inflection point: Manufacturing WARN filings statewide hit 54 notices affecting 4,255 workers year-to-date. Any Sioux City-area manufacturing notice would be a meaningful signal given the sector's outsized share of local employment.
Sources
- Iowa Workforce Development — Woodbury County unemployment at 3.7% in August 2026
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Sioux City MSA unemployment at 3.2% in June 2026
- Iowa Workforce Development — Iowa labor force fell by 19,800 workers year-over-year
- Iowa Workforce Development — Iowa labor force participation rate fell to 66.9%
- Rolling Out — Wells Fargo Iowa layoffs reached 460 workers in 2026
- LayoffIQ — Manufacturing WARN filings affected 4,255 Iowa workers YTD
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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