{"schema_version": 1, "id": "albany-schenectady-troy-ny-msa/information-technology/2026-09", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 69, "label": "Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY MSA", "slug": "albany-schenectady-troy-ny-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-09", "public_after": "2026-09-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T13:13:37.468671+00:00", "headline": "Albany's job growth stalls while IT pay specialization accelerates.", "headline_summary": "Metro job gains have slowed to 250 losses a month on average in 2026 \u2014 the weakest since 2020 \u2014 even as Data Scientist pay climbs to a $155,000 local median, above the $148,250 national figure.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Metro monthly job change, 2026 avg", "value": "-250/mo", "context": "vs +267/mo in 2025, weakest since 2020"}, {"label": "Albany County unemployment", "value": "3.9%", "context": "vs 4.3% NY state, 4.1% national (Aug 2026)"}, {"label": "Data Scientist advertised pay, metro", "value": "$155,000", "context": "vs $148,250 national median, up significantly"}, {"label": "Help Desk/IT Support advertised pay, metro", "value": "$49,308", "context": "vs $53,644 national, trending down"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Metro job growth has effectively stalled, but talent isn't getting easier to find.", "body": "Average monthly job losses of 250 in 2026 mark the weakest metro performance since 2020, yet Albany and Rensselaer County unemployment sit near 3.9% \u2014 below the 4.3% state rate. Soft aggregate growth is not translating into a looser pool for specialized IT roles."}, {"headline": "Data Scientist pay is outrunning the national market by a wide margin.", "body": "Metro median advertised pay for Data Scientist roles reached $155,000, above the $148,250 national figure, with a significant upward trend locally. Given the metro's lean toward government and institutional employers, this suggests even non-tech-sector organizations are competing hard for applied analytics talent."}, {"headline": "Support-tier pay is softening while architect-tier roles pull away.", "body": "Help Desk/IT Support advertised pay fell to $49,308 locally, well below the $53,644 national median, even as Infrastructure and Security Architect roles statewide command $170,000-$200,000. Current conditions suggest the economic case for outsourcing entry-level support functions is strengthening faster than wage data alone would indicate."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity compensation growth looks structural, not seasonal.", "body": "Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay rose significantly to $105,000, tracking a national pattern where senior security talent reaches $400K and statewide skill-specific growth hits 346% above baseline occupational growth (CompTIA). Retention planning for security staff may warrant more frequent benchmarking cycles than other IT functions."}], "local_conditions": "Albany-Schenectady-Troy's economy decelerated sharply through 2026, averaging monthly job losses of 250 versus a 267-job monthly gain in 2025 \u2014 the weakest performance since 2020 \u2014 while county unemployment held tight at 3.9% in Albany and 4.2% in Schenectady. Government and office employment, still roughly 86% of downtown Albany's job base, is insulating the metro from the steeper information-sector contraction seen statewide, but it also means local IT hiring is tracking public-sector budget cycles more than private tech demand.", "implications": "Slowing headcount growth combined with persistently low unemployment signals a labor market where IT leaders can't rely on layoffs elsewhere to loosen the candidate pool \u2014 specialized talent in cloud, security, and AI-adjacent roles remains as hard to source locally as it is nationally, even as aggregate job creation stalls. Statewide architect-tier compensation ($170K-$200K) versus support-tier pay ($76K-$91K) widens the economic case for outsourcing commodity infrastructure work while concentrating permanent headcount in scarce specialties. Consider reviewing which infrastructure and support functions could shift to contract or managed-service arrangements before the next budget cycle, freeing permanent headcount capacity for cybersecurity and cloud architecture roles where advertised pay is moving fastest.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Expected", "body": "October's state labor report will bring the first full September metro unemployment reading. A continued slide below 4% locally, against a stalling job count, would confirm a supply-constrained rather than demand-driven tightness \u2014 relevant to how aggressively leaders need to counter-offer for infrastructure and security talent."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Albany's apartment vacancy rate of 3.6% \u2014 the tightest among tracked U.S. metros \u2014 may act as a soft ceiling on inbound relocation hiring for specialized roles. Organizations recruiting cloud or security talent from outside the metro should factor housing friction into offer timelines."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Statewide WARN filings remain low (46 notices, 4,694 workers over 90 days) with no concentration in information or tech services locally. Absent a release event, expect continued reliance on direct competition and counteroffers rather than displaced-talent hiring to fill cloud and security openings."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National Indeed Job Postings Index turned positive year-over-year for the first time in nearly four years, even as the information sector lost jobs in August. Watch whether that national postings recovery reaches Albany's office-anchored economy or remains concentrated in sectors the metro underrepresents."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 122178.0, "metro_p50": 155000.0, "metro_p75": 167500.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 148250.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 77744.0, "metro_p50": 97500.0, "metro_p75": 106202.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 101168.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 70000.0, "metro_p50": 106561.0, "metro_p75": 128472.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 114400.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 119800.0, "metro_p50": 154110.0, "metro_p75": 171150.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 153652.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 43101.0, "metro_p50": 49308.4, "metro_p75": 55806.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 53644.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 85403.0, "metro_p50": 105000.0, "metro_p75": 124827.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 106790.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "IT Project Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 86372.0, "metro_p50": 116514.4, "metro_p75": 128360.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 117530.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [], "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.", "edition_label": "October 2026", "files": {"html": "albany-schenectady-troy-ny-msa/information-technology/2026-09.html", "pdf": "albany-schenectady-troy-ny-msa/information-technology/2026-09.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T13:47:48.530439+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/albany-schenectady-troy-ny-msa/information-technology/2026-09.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/albany-schenectady-troy-ny-msa/information-technology/2026-09.pdf"}