Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Appleton, WI 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
Appleton MSA preliminary unemployment rate of 2.8% in July 2026
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Local Area Unemployment Statistics, Appleton MSA
Outagamie County Q1 2026 employment up 0.1% year-over-year
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
This Month's Takeaways
Wisconsin statewide wage growth forecast at 3.7%-4.2% for 2026
COWS - State of Working Wisconsin report — September 2026 state labor market report
Wisconsin Education & Health Services sector grew 1.9% over 12 months
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Current Employment Statistics, Wisconsin, through June 2026
Local Economic Conditions
Outagamie County average weekly wages of $1,271 in Q1 2026, up 1.4%
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — QCEW county wage data
Looking Ahead
Wisconsin labor force participation fell to 64.5% from 65.4% year-ago
Joint Economic Committee / BLS — State labor force participation data, 2026
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