Albany jobs shrink as rents tighten and pay bifurcates.
-250/month avg
Metro monthly job change, 2026
vs +267/month average gain in 2025
3.6%
Albany apartment vacancy rate
Lowest among tracked U.S. metros, down from 5.2%
3.9%-4.2%
County unemployment range
Albany 3.9%, Schenectady 4.2%, vs US 4.2%
3.0% vs 3.4%
National wage vs. inflation gap
First real-wage decline after 2 years of gains
This Month's Takeaways
01
Albany's job count is shrinking while pay for key roles keeps climbing.
Registered Nurse pay rose significantly to $110,381 and electrician pay climbed to $68,506, even as the metro averaged a 250-job monthly net loss in 2026. Wage gains concentrated in healthcare and skilled trades appear to reflect demand outpacing a shrinking available workforce in those fields, not metro-wide economic strength.
02
Tight apartment vacancy tells a different story than the jobs data.
Vacancy at 3.6% — down from 5.2% three years ago and the lowest among tracked metros — suggests households are choosing to stay or relocate into the region even as net job creation stalls. That divergence is consistent with a metro absorbing population or retirees independent of local hiring momentum, a distinction worth flagging for anyone reading jobs numbers as the whole economic picture.
03
Government's local stability is doing more work than it gets credit for.
With 86% of downtown Albany jobs tied to government and office work, the metro is comparatively insulated from the 216,000 national decline in government payrolls over the past year. That insulation is a stabilizer, not a growth engine — commerce leaders should treat it as a floor under the local economy rather than a source of expansion.
04
Wage-vs-inflation gap is now a national headwind, not just a local one.
National wage growth slowed to 3.0% year-over-year in September against 3.4% inflation, meaning real purchasing power is contracting for the first time in two years. Albany's own wage picture is mixed — strong gains in nursing and skilled trades, declines in retail and customer service pay — suggesting uneven consumer spending power across different parts of the local workforce.
Local Economic Conditions
Albany-Schenectady-Troy employment growth has effectively stalled, averaging a 250-job monthly decline through 2026 after a modest 0.8% annual gain in 2025, with government and office-dependent work still anchoring roughly 86% of downtown Albany's job base. Regional softness tracks a statewide pattern of concentrated gains in finance and healthcare masking broader stagnation, while the metro's 3.6% apartment vacancy rate — the tightest among tracked U.S. metros — signals housing demand holding firm even as payroll growth cools.
Open Threads in the Data
Flat-to-declining headcount growth alongside a historically tight rental market points to a local economy where labor supply isn't the constraint — demand for office-anchored and government-adjacent activity is. For commerce leaders, this combination suggests the metro's near-term growth story runs through sectors showing wage momentum (healthcare, skilled trades) rather than broad-based expansion, while government economists should note that public-sector stability locally contrasts with the 17,000 national government job losses in September. Current conditions suggest monitoring whether healthcare and construction wage gains translate into actual job-count growth, or remain confined to pay inflation within a shrinking employment base.
Advertised Pay Indicators · WageScape Benchmark 25 Jobs
Job postings data for the Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY MSA metro — median advertised pay, its recent trend, and the number of active postings behind each figure. Jobs are grouped for readability and are not the same as the 10 sector classifications on the next page. For additional job detail contact WageScape.
Retail Trade
| Retail Sales Associate |
$33,384 |
↓ Moderate decline |
8,809 |
| Retail Cashier |
$36,079 |
→ Stable |
1,668 |
Transportation & Warehousing
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate |
$40,560 |
→ Stable |
1,393 |
| CDL Truck Driver |
$74,644 |
→ Stable |
5,385 |
| Delivery Driver |
$36,655 |
→ Stable |
4,559 |
| Warehouse Manager |
$62,774 |
↑ Significant increase |
12 |
Construction
| Construction Laborer |
$42,640 |
→ Stable |
326 |
Construction/Skilled Trades
| Electrician |
$68,506 |
↑ Significant increase |
1,169 |
| HVAC Technician |
$71,947 |
↑ Moderate increase |
297 |
Manufacturing
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler |
$39,260 |
→ Stable |
947 |
Cross-Sector
| Customer Service Representative |
$39,850 |
↓ Moderate decline |
2,598 |
| Operations Manager |
$85,960 |
↓ Moderate decline |
48 |
Leisure & Hospitality
| Food Service Worker |
$36,400 |
↓ Moderate decline |
432 |
Healthcare
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide |
$41,860 |
→ Stable |
2,206 |
| Registered Nurse |
$110,381 |
↑ Significant increase |
7,877 |
Admin/Office Support
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk |
$45,450 |
→ Stable |
3,027 |
Information/Technology
| Software Engineer |
$154,110 |
→ Stable |
8,961 |
| Data Engineer |
$142,815 |
↑ Moderate increase |
3,461 |
Professional & Business Services
| Accountant |
$70,800 |
↑ Significant increase |
4,418 |
| HR Generalist/Manager |
$80,000 |
↑ Significant increase |
630 |
| Marketing Specialist |
$58,987 |
→ Stable |
824 |
| Business Analyst |
$93,642 |
↑ Moderate increase |
3,744 |
Finance & Insurance
| Financial Analyst |
$92,500 |
↑ Moderate increase |
972 |
Government/Education
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher |
$60,131 |
↑ Moderate increase |
9,060 |
Cross-Sector Sales
| Account Manager |
$95,329 |
↑ Significant increase |
5,762 |
Industry Snapshot · Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY MSA
Advertised pay and job-posting trends across the whole metro economy, rolled up by employer industry — not just the bellwether roles above.
| Sector |
Median Pay Change |
Job Postings Change |
| Construction |
↑ +6.8% |
↑ +53.8% |
| Manufacturing |
↑ +23.0% |
↑ +36.4% |
| Retail Trade |
→ −3.0% |
↑ +35.3% |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities |
↑ +8.1% |
↑ +5.4% |
| Information |
↑ +38.1% |
↓ −9.9% |
| Financial Activities |
↑ +19.3% |
↑ +13.2% |
| Professional & Business Services |
↑ +18.9% |
↑ +21.8% |
| Education & Health Services |
↑ +7.7% |
↑ +6.9% |
| Leisure & Hospitality |
→ +1.2% |
↑ +15.5% |
| Government |
↑ +20.5% |
↓ −35.1% |
Looking Ahead · Next 30–60 Days
Expected
September 2026 metro-level employment and unemployment figures from the New York State Department of Labor should publish in October, offering the first read on whether the 2026 job-loss trend accelerated or stabilized.
Worth watching
Statewide labor force participation has slipped to 61.3%, and whether Albany follows that pattern will determine if local unemployment holding near 3.9-4.2% reflects fewer job-seekers rather than stronger hiring, mirroring the pattern already seen in NYC.
Emerging pressure point
New York recorded 46 WARN notices affecting 4,694 workers over the past 90 days, concentrated in healthcare, manufacturing, and transportation/logistics — none large-scale locally so far, but commerce leaders should track whether any filings emerge in the Capital Region given construction-sector cost pressure noted in the Federal Reserve's September Beige Book.
Potential inflection point
National payroll growth decelerated sharply to 29,000 in September with downward revisions to July and August, and if that national cooling persists into Q4, it may pressure the Capital Region's already-flat job count further given its reliance on broader public and office-sector activity.
Sources & Methodology
Pay and hiring data provided by WageScape. See every source cited in this report, with links →
Advertised pay reflects the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro, not survey or payroll data. Pay trends compare the current period with the prior period for the same metro and role. Sector figures group postings by the employer's industry classification; sectors with limited classified postings are marked as such rather than estimated. This briefing is independent of, and complements, official statistics from the BLS and state labor market information offices.
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