Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Abilene, TX MSA · October 2026
Every advertised-pay, job-posting and industry figure in this briefing comes from WageScape's own database of active job postings. The sources below back the external facts cited in the written analysis.
Sources cited in this report
Key Indicators
National wage growth slipped to 3.0% annual, lowest since May 2021
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — National Employment Situation Report, September 2026
This Month's Takeaways
Texas manufacturing wages grew 4.8% over the year, strongest since Dec 2023
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas — Mid-year Texas business outlook survey
Texas construction employment grew 5.1% over the year, outpacing national rate
Texas Workforce Commission — Texas industry employment report, September 2026
Local Economic Conditions
Abilene unemployment rose to 4.2% in September from 3.7% in August
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Metro-level unemployment rate release, September 2026
Education and health services sector grew 6.7% year-over-year
HUD Housing Market Profile / Texas Workforce Commission — Abilene MSA sector employment data
Looking Ahead
Dallas Fed revised 2026 Texas employment growth forecast to 2.0%
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas — Texas employment forecast update
How the numbers are calculated
- Advertised pay is the median of the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro. It is not survey or payroll data.
- Percent changes compare the latest six full months with the six months before that, for the same metro and sector.
- Sectors group postings by the employer's industry (NAICS) classification into ten sectors. Where a metro has too few postings in a sector, the state figure is used instead.
- Role pay trends use the same comparison windows. "Stable" means a change of less than 3%; "moderate" 3–10%; "significant" more than 10%.
Official data for comparison