Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · October 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Springfield, OH MSA — October 2026
Springfield payrolls shrink fastest in Ohio despite steady jobless rate.
Clark County unemployment held at 3.8% in August, but metro payrolls fell 2.2% over the past year — the steepest decline among Ohio's eleven metros — as a 1,300-job trucking-sector contraction and TPS uncertainty for Haitian residents weigh on labor supply.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro payroll change (annual): -2.2% — Largest decline among Ohio's 11 metro areas
- Clark County unemployment: 3.8% — Aug 2026, down from 3.9% in July
- Trucking-sector job separations: ~1,300 workers — International Motors/Roshel facility sale, Oct 2026
- Ohio new unemployment claims: 8,596 — Nearly doubled following Springfield trucking cuts
Key takeaways
Springfield's payroll decline is outpacing its unemployment signal.
Metro employment fell 2.2% over the past year — the largest drop among Ohio's eleven metro areas — while the unemployment rate held near 3.8%, a gap that suggests workers are leaving the labor force even as some find new jobs. Commerce leaders citing the unemployment rate alone as evidence of economic stability risk missing the underlying contraction.
One facility transition carries outsized weight in a small metro.
International Motors' sale to Roshel and the resulting ~1,300 job separations nearly doubled Ohio's new unemployment claims in a single reporting period, illustrating how concentrated Springfield's manufacturing and logistics base remains. A single corporate transaction moving state-level data is itself a signal of limited economic diversification locally.
Immigration policy uncertainty is a measurable local labor-supply variable.
Temporary Protected Status review for Haitian residents directly affects a population that has contributed to Springfield's workforce and population growth since 2020; the outcome is a policy fact with direct labor-supply consequences. Economic development planning should treat this as a quantifiable supply risk alongside manufacturing contraction, independent of how the underlying policy is debated.
Manufacturing wage gains coexist with sector-wide contraction.
Advertised pay for manufacturing production workers rose moderately to $36,504 even as the sector led regional job losses, a pattern consistent with fewer, more specialized roles replacing broader production headcount. That divergence between pay and headcount is a clearer momentum signal than either figure alone.
Median advertised pay by role — Springfield, OH MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $25,319 | $30,269 | $34,693 | Significant decline | $33,340 |
| Retail Cashier | $24,960 | $26,756 | $29,337 | Stable | $31,268 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $33,042 | $40,560 | $42,640 | Stable | $38,480 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $61,974 | $80,340 | $90,000 | Moderate decline | $78,872 |
| Delivery Driver | $27,884 | $34,840 | $44,000 | Moderate increase | $34,826 |
| Construction Laborer | $35,360 | $38,480 | $39,520 | Stable | $40,727 |
| Electrician | $47,500 | $58,107 | $65,164 | Significant decline | $71,835 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $31,571 | $36,504 | $38,480 | Moderate increase | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $32,554 | $36,932 | $38,192 | Moderate increase | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $29,161 | $30,369 | $35,360 | Moderate increase | $33,764 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $32,594 | $36,529 | $40,560 | Stable | $41,600 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $37,110 | $40,385 | $42,120 | Moderate increase | $44,552 |
| HVAC Technician | $56,160 | $68,938 | $69,601 | Significant decline | $71,406 |
| Registered Nurse | $81,104 | $93,818 | $104,312 | Significant increase | $102,252 |
| Software Engineer | $123,750 | $156,617 | $167,889 | Significant increase | $154,403 |
| Data Engineer * | $97,990 | $130,000 | $147,773 | Stable | $138,000 |
| Accountant | $57,115 | $67,600 | $72,500 | Significant increase | $72,000 |
| Financial Analyst | $70,587 | $81,500 | $88,823 | Significant increase | $94,646 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $65,295 | $82,749 | $83,747 | Significant increase | $74,477 |
| Marketing Specialist * | $47,328 | $59,245 | $68,739 | Moderate increase | $62,916 |
| Operations Manager * | $71,747 | $82,821 | $93,502 | Moderate increase | $86,294 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $31,200 | $43,323 | $45,461 | Significant increase | $55,908 |
| Account Manager | $83,287 | $119,098 | $147,544 | Moderate decline | $94,009 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $51,862 | $65,000 | $67,500 | Moderate decline | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst * | $79,080 | $96,332 | $107,941 | Stable | $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 | $67,468 | Moderate decline | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $61,000 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $37,644 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $68,276 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Information | $148,559 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $57,539 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $59,256 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $59,857 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $29,703 | Significant decline | Significant increase |
| Government | $65,016 | Stable | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Clark County unemployment held at 3.8% in August even as Springfield-area payrolls contracted 2.2% over the past year — the steepest decline among Ohio's eleven metro areas — concentrated in manufacturing and amplified by the October trucking-sector contraction tied to International Motors' facility sale to Roshel, which triggered roughly 1,300 job separations and nearly doubled the state's new unemployment claims. Labor supply pressure compounds the demand-side softness: federal uncertainty over Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants, a population central to Springfield's workforce and population growth since 2020, introduces a labor-force risk that is locally specific and absent from Ohio's other metro economies.
What it means
Springfield's economy is contracting faster than the rest of Ohio even as headline unemployment looks stable, which means commerce leaders evaluating local investment or expansion should weight payroll trends and sector concentration over the unemployment rate alone. The International Motors facility transition and TPS uncertainty both touch labor supply in ways that are specific to this metro and outside the control of any single local employer or policy lever. Current conditions suggest economic development and chamber leaders track payroll counts by sector monthly, since the quarterly unemployment print has lagged the metro's actual contraction by several months this year.
Looking ahead
Expected: Ohio WARN filings tied to the International Motors/Roshel transition should continue appearing through Q4; watch whether displaced trucking and manufacturing workers register in Clark County's labor force participation data or exit the workforce entirely.
Potential inflection point: Federal TPS decisions affecting Haitian residents remain pending; any formal ruling will have direct, quantifiable effects on Springfield's labor force size and should be tracked as a labor-supply fact.
Worth watching: Springfield's 2.2% annual payroll contraction compares against Ohio's statewide 5,000-job September decline — watch whether the next two BLS metro releases show the gap widening or whether Springfield stabilizes relative to peer metros.
Early indicator: Job ads for warehouse and manufacturing roles, a signal of hiring demand (one ad often covers several openings), have stayed stable to up even as payroll counts fell — a divergence worth monitoring for whether it reflects selective backfilling or a demand floor forming under the sector.
Sources
- Ohio Department of Job and Family Services / BLS — Springfield metro payrolls fell 2.2%, largest decline among Ohio metros
- Ohio Labor Market Information (Ohio LMI) — Clark County unemployment rate 3.8% in August 2026
- Eastern Herald — International Motors facility sale to Roshel triggered ~1,300 job losses
- Eastern Herald — Ohio new unemployment claims nearly doubled to 8,596
- Springfield News-Sun — TPS status for Haitian residents affects Springfield's labor force
- Ohio Department of Job and Family Services — Ohio shed 5,000 jobs statewide in September 2026
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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