Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Utica-Rome, NY MSA — September 2026
Utica-Rome jobs flat, growth narrows to healthcare and leisure.
Metro nonfarm employment held at 122,700 over the year while unemployment rose to 4.3%, with nearly all job gains confined to private education/health services and leisure/hospitality.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 4.3% — Up from 4.2% in Aug 2025; NY state at 4.3%
- Metro nonfarm payrolls: 122,700 — Unchanged year-over-year through August 2026
- Metro avg weekly wage (Q1 2026): $1,218 — vs $1,654 national average
- National wage growth vs inflation: 3.0% vs 3.4% — First real-wage decline in two years
Key takeaways
Headline stability is masking a narrowing growth base.
Total nonfarm employment sat unchanged at 122,700 over the year, but nearly all net gains came from healthcare, education, and leisure/hospitality while five other sectors contracted in August alone. A flat topline number can obscure a labor market that is growing in fewer places than it was a year ago.
Local wages still trail the national pace by a wide margin.
First-quarter average weekly wages of $1,218 remain well below the $1,654 national average, even as several metro occupations — registered nurses, teachers, accountants — post significant advertised-pay increases. The gap suggests wage gains are concentrated rather than lifting the broader local wage base.
Manufacturing softness here cuts against the national rebound story.
National manufacturing added jobs in September and advertised pay for assemblers rose nationally, but Utica-Rome manufacturing employment and local advertised pay for production workers both moved down this period. This divergence is worth flagging to any stakeholder assuming local manufacturing is tracking the national recovery.
Public-sector contraction here is modest but worth tracking against the state trend.
Local government employment dipped by 100 in August, a small figure on its own but one that aligns with a reported 13,000-job local government decline statewide outside education. Continued softness would matter for municipal and county budget planning given government's traditional role as a local stabilizer.
Median advertised pay by role — Utica-Rome, NY MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $31,025 | $33,280 | $35,360 | Stable | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $30,275 | $34,278 | $35,360 | Stable | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $32,831 | $37,960 | $40,785 | Moderate decline | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $57,000 | $79,514 | $91,568 | Stable | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $31,037 | $33,918 | $38,223 | Moderate decline | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $36,393 | $43,680 | $55,224 | Moderate increase | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $55,917 | $69,740 | $76,795 | Moderate increase | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $34,316 | $41,731 | $48,381 | Significant decline | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $35,912 | $39,520 | $43,343 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $31,588 | $34,533 | $37,124 | Moderate decline | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $37,165 | $43,722 | $49,400 | Stable | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $30,381 | $42,330 | $48,880 | Moderate decline | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician | $57,275 | $67,600 | $72,800 | Significant increase | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $95,050 | $119,439 | $127,868 | Significant increase | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer | $117,533 | $156,032 | $175,438 | Stable | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer | $99,476 | $144,000 | $159,248 | Stable | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $59,565 | $71,801 | $80,040 | Significant increase | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst | $72,761 | $95,595 | $104,967 | Moderate increase | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $59,549 | $83,344 | $90,978 | Significant increase | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist | $45,000 | $59,466 | $70,712 | Stable | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager * | $70,000 | $85,960 | $100,600 | Moderate decline | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $48,880 | $62,086 | $66,808 | Significant increase | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $65,852 | $100,556 | $122,500 | Significant increase | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $47,232 | $62,774 | $75,021 | Significant increase | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $82,377 | $98,164 | $109,494 | Significant increase | $98,279 |
* 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 | $88,875 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $112,859 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $51,504 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $49,000 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Information | $131,731 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $123,043 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $96,468 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $83,766 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $38,317 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Government | $69,484 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Utica-Rome's nonfarm job count held flat at 122,700 over the year ending August 2026 while the metro unemployment rate edged up to 4.3%, a slower drift than the sharper national deceleration but consistent with the broader state pattern of stagnating headline employment beneath a calm unemployment reading. Growth remains narrowly concentrated in private education and health services (+400) and leisure/hospitality (+200), while professional/business services, financial activities, government, manufacturing, and construction each shed jobs in August — a sectoral split that mirrors the national divide between resilient hands-on service work and softening white-collar and public-sector activity.
What it means
Flat headline job counts alongside rising advertised pay in registered nursing, teaching, and skilled trades suggest the metro's growth is occurring inside a narrower band of sectors even as overall momentum cools, a pattern commerce leaders should read as selective strength rather than broad-based expansion. Government and professional/business services losses, combined with Q1 average weekly wages ($1,218) still well below the national figure ($1,654), point to a metro where public-sector stability and household purchasing power both warrant closer monitoring before treating any single month's data as a turning point. Current conditions suggest economic development and chamber leaders track sector-level momentum alongside headline unemployment when briefing stakeholders, rather than relying on the unemployment rate alone to characterize local conditions.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Construction and financial activities both lost jobs locally in August while national construction added workers; whether this is noise or a genuine local divergence should become clearer with the next two monthly releases.
Potential inflection point: Unemployment has drifted upward for three consecutive months (4.1% to 4.3% year-over-year in July-August). A fourth consecutive increase would mark a clearer trend break worth flagging in any economic outlook briefing.
Early indicator: Statewide WARN filings show healthcare, manufacturing, and transportation as the top-affected industries; none of the recent notable filings (BuzzFeed, Buffalo Newspress) are local, but the sectoral pattern bears watching given Utica-Rome's manufacturing exposure.
Expected: National wage growth has slipped to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation, the first real-wage erosion in two years; local weekly wage figures for Q2/Q3 2026, once released, will show whether Utica-Rome households are experiencing the same purchasing-power squeeze.
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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