Labor Market Pulse · Human Resources · October 2026
Human Resources Labor Market Report: Williamsport, PA MSA — October 2026
Williamsport's tight labor market splits HR pay by seniority.
Benefits Manager pay in Williamsport climbed to $121,500 while HR Business Partner pay slipped to $83,186, even as metro unemployment held near 3.8%, well below the 4.1% national rate.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Williamsport unemployment rate: 3.8%-4.0% — vs 4.1% U.S., 3.6% Pennsylvania statewide
- Benefits Manager advertised pay: $121,500 — Up significantly; above $118,618 national median
- HR Business Partner advertised pay: $83,186 — Down moderately vs rising $83,900 national median
- Williamsport labor force (July 2026): 53,300 — 51,300 employed; stable from April's 53,400
Key takeaways
Local unemployment is tighter than the state and national picture.
Williamsport's 3.8%-4.0% rate sits below Pennsylvania's 3.6% statewide figure context and well under the 4.1% national rate, meaning employers here compete for a shallower bench than peers elsewhere in the commonwealth. Workforce planning should assume slower fill times on technical and skilled-trade openings through year-end.
Benefits Manager pay is rising fastest of any tracked role locally.
Metro median advertised pay for Benefits Manager hit $121,500, up significantly and now exceeding the $118,618 national median — a signal that employers are paying a premium for plan design and cost-management expertise as benefit costs climb nationally. Treat this role's compensation band as a moving target.
HR Business Partner pay is softening against a rising national trend.
Metro median HR Business Partner pay fell to $83,186 even as the national median rose to $83,900, a divergence worth investigating before assuming it reflects reduced demand. It may instead reflect a shift in the mix of postings toward more junior HRBP scope locally.
Entry-level HR roles are seeing the sharpest wage pressure in the metro.
HR Coordinator ($50,090) and Recruiter ($52,416) advertised pay both moved up significantly locally, outpacing more measured national movement in Coordinator pay and flat national Recruiter pay. Compression between entry-level and mid-level HR roles may be building faster locally than compensation structures have been updated to reflect.
Median advertised pay by role — Williamsport, PA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compensation Analyst * | $70,654 | $95,484 | $111,191 | Stable | $100,798 |
| HR Business Partner | $68,650 | $83,186 | $88,116 | Moderate decline | $83,900 |
| Benefits Manager * | $78,064 | $121,500 | $125,604 | Significant increase | $118,618 |
| HRIS Analyst * | $77,809 | $97,578 | $109,359 | Moderate increase | $95,000 |
| HR Coordinator | $45,570 | $50,090 | $53,488 | Significant increase | $50,460 |
| Recruiter | $31,720 | $52,416 | $54,080 | Significant increase | $67,234 |
| Payroll Specialist * | $50,208 | $60,906 | $67,691 | Moderate 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
Williamsport MSA unemployment held near 3.8%-4.0% through mid-2026, running roughly half a point below the national rate and signaling a labor pool that remains structurally tight relative to Pennsylvania's broader 3.6% statewide figure. Manufacturing continues to anchor the metro's employment base at 7.5 thousand workers, while statewide dynamics — including skilled trades scarcity tied to data-center and infrastructure construction — appear to be pulling on the same limited pool of technical talent that serves Williamsport employers.
What it means
Tight local labor supply combined with a national low-hire, low-fire pattern means Williamsport employers face thin applicant pipelines even as turnover risk in specialized and technical roles climbs — retention now carries more weight than external recruitment in workforce planning. Advertised pay movements in this metro are diverging sharply by role, with HR Coordinator and Recruiter postings up significantly while HR Business Partner pay has softened, suggesting employers are recalibrating which functions they view as mission-critical. Consider reviewing retention programs for mid-tenure technical and compensation staff before assuming replacement hiring will be fast or affordable in this market.
Looking ahead
Expected: October BLS metro-level data releases in mid-to-late November; watch whether Williamsport's unemployment rate holds near 3.8% or tightens further, which would sharpen competition for manufacturing and technical talent already in short supply.
Emerging pressure point: Statewide skilled trades scarcity — electricians, HVAC technicians, plumbers — tied to infrastructure and data-center buildout may pull trades talent out of the Williamsport labor pool even without a local project driving it directly.
Worth watching: Comcast Technology Center's 634-worker WARN filing effective December 31 is a Pennsylvania event affecting the broader region beyond Williamsport itself, but released technical and corporate talent entering the broader regional candidate pool could ease pressure on hard-to-fill roles here.
Potential inflection point: HR Business Partner and HR Coordinator pay are moving in opposite directions locally; a clearer picture should emerge as Q4 postings accumulate, helping distinguish a structural shift in role scope from short-term noise in a thin local ad sample.
Sources
- Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry — Williamsport MSA unemployment rate of 3.8%-4.0% in 2026
- PA Department of Labor & Industry / BLS — Pennsylvania statewide unemployment fell to 3.6% in September 2026
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — National unemployment rate held at 4.1% in October 2026
- Pennsylvania labor market research — Skilled trades scarcity tied to data-center and infrastructure buildout
- Pennsylvania WARN Act notices — Comcast Technology Center WARN filing for 634 workers
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Williamsport manufacturing employment of 7.5 thousand workers
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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