Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · October 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Spokane, WA MSA — October 2026
Spokane's low jobless rate hides a one-sector growth story.
Spokane County's unemployment rate sits at 3.2% against Washington's 4.8%, but healthcare drives most of the metro's job growth while statewide labor-force contraction and skilled-trades pay gains of up to 11% point to tightening availability beneath the headline number.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Spokane County unemployment: 3.2% — vs 4.8% statewide, 4.1% national (Sept. 2026)
- Spokane job count change: -2,500 — June to July 2026, even as jobless rate fell
- Washington statewide job loss: -15,400 jobs — Sept. 2026, despite falling unemployment rate
- Washington WARN filings: 16,776 workers — Highest of any U.S. state, as of Oct. 8, 2026
Key takeaways
Low unemployment masks a shrinking labor pool.
Spokane's 3.2% rate looks strong against the state's 4.8%, but Washington's falling unemployment reflects labor-force contraction more than stronger hiring. A tightening local talent pool, even amid modest job counts, is consistent with slower replacement of retiring skilled-trades workers.
Healthcare's dominance is a strength with a structural catch.
Providence and MultiCare anchor local job growth and registered nurse pay is up moderately to $115,680, but a local economy leaning this heavily on one sector carries more downside risk if healthcare demand softens than a diversified base would.
Wage gains in skilled trades point to where local demand is concentrated.
Electrician pay rose significantly to $85,280 and construction laborer pay moved up moderately to $47,840, both outpacing their national medians — a signal that building and infrastructure activity is a live source of local economic momentum worth tracking alongside healthcare.
White-collar pay softness diverges from the frontline story.
Operations manager pay fell significantly locally to $101,095 and financial analyst and data engineer pay also declined, even as national medians for these roles held steadier — a gap that may suggest Spokane's professional-services segment is cooling faster than its blue-collar and healthcare segments.
Median advertised pay by role — Spokane, WA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $33,849 | $37,440 | $40,123 | Stable | $33,340 |
| Retail Cashier | $31,841 | $36,951 | $38,480 | Moderate increase | $31,268 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $35,665 | $41,600 | $43,680 | Stable | $38,480 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $55,939 | $70,090 | $79,961 | Stable | $78,872 |
| Delivery Driver | $33,962 | $41,600 | $47,840 | Significant increase | $34,826 |
| Construction Laborer | $37,440 | $47,840 | $49,946 | Moderate increase | $40,727 |
| Electrician | $71,791 | $85,280 | $93,600 | Significant increase | $71,835 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $36,382 | $39,520 | $41,703 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $37,440 | $41,697 | $45,361 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $34,700 | $41,850 | $43,848 | Moderate decline | $33,764 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $43,800 | $52,000 | $54,798 | Moderate increase | $41,600 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $39,520 | $46,369 | $52,000 | Moderate increase | $44,552 |
| HVAC Technician | $66,034 | $73,840 | $78,000 | Stable | $71,406 |
| Registered Nurse | $93,515 | $115,680 | $123,264 | Moderate increase | $102,252 |
| Software Engineer | $105,305 | $132,789 | $147,943 | Stable | $154,403 |
| Data Engineer | $81,078 | $84,517 | $104,825 | Significant decline | $138,000 |
| Accountant | $57,300 | $71,240 | $76,440 | Stable | $72,000 |
| Financial Analyst | $78,680 | $92,238 | $99,413 | Moderate decline | $94,646 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $57,828 | $76,460 | $79,000 | Moderate decline | $74,477 |
| Marketing Specialist | $47,840 | $65,520 | $66,902 | Moderate increase | $62,916 |
| Operations Manager * | $83,648 | $101,095 | $112,134 | Significant decline | $86,294 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $39,000 | $64,127 | $77,322 | Significant increase | $55,908 |
| Account Manager | $56,400 | $84,924 | $108,887 | Moderate increase | $94,009 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $62,400 | $76,250 | $80,000 | Significant increase | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $78,556 | $91,504 | $100,891 | Moderate increase | $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 | $61,116 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $72,446 | Stable | Stable |
| Retail Trade | $41,850 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $54,080 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Information | $69,174 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $62,666 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $72,685 | Significant increase | Stable |
| Education & Health Services | $68,390 | Significant increase | Stable |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $36,344 | Moderate decline | Moderate decline |
| Government | $66,642 | Moderate increase | Significant decline |
Local market conditions
Spokane County's unemployment rate held at 3.2% in September, well below both Washington's 4.8% and the national 4.1%, even as Washington State's labor force contracted and the county's own job count fell by 2,500 between June and July. Healthcare continues to anchor local job growth, with Providence Health Care and MultiCare Health System among the metro's largest employers, while statewide softness in professional and business services and a thinning labor pool point to supply constraints as the metro's defining condition.
What it means
Spokane's unemployment advantage over state and national rates signals a tighter local labor pool than headline job counts suggest, which has implications for commercial expansion timing and public-sector staffing plans alike. Concentration of job growth in a single sector — healthcare — leaves the metro's economic base less diversified than peer metros, a vulnerability economic development planners and chamber leaders should weigh against any single-sector growth narrative. Current conditions suggest commerce leaders evaluate expansion or investment decisions against labor availability by sector, giving more weight to this than to the aggregate unemployment rate alone.
Looking ahead
Data release to watch: October county-level unemployment and payroll figures from the Washington Employment Security Department publish November 24, with seasonally adjusted data following December 2 — the first real read on whether September's tightness persisted into fall.
Emerging pressure point: Washington's statewide WARN filings lead the nation at 16,776 workers affected as of early October, concentrated in agriculture, technology and food/hospitality; any spillover into Eastern Washington operations would be the first sign Spokane isn't insulated from statewide layoff pressure.
Structural watch: Washington's labor force participation decline, driven by retirements and slower replacement in skilled trades, bears watching locally given Spokane's own aging-workforce dynamics in construction and trades-adjacent sectors.
Sector concentration risk: Continued reliance on healthcare for the bulk of local job growth leaves the metro's momentum narrative exposed to any single-sector slowdown — commerce and economic development leaders should track whether manufacturing or trades activity broadens the base in coming months.
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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