{"schema_version": 1, "id": "barnstable-town-ma-msa/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 104, "label": "Barnstable Town, MA MSA", "slug": "barnstable-town-ma-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:00:06.313775+00:00", "headline": "Cape Cod IT pay splits: support roles tighten as sysadmin pay slides.", "headline_summary": "Metro Systems Administrator pay fell significantly to $99,707 against a rising national median of $102,503, while local Help Desk pay climbed to $57,448 even as the national figure declined.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Cape & Islands unemployment", "value": "3.6%", "context": "August 2026, vs 4.3% Massachusetts statewide"}, {"label": "Barnstable County employment", "value": "-1.9% YoY", "context": "Through March 2026, BLS QCEW data"}, {"label": "Systems Administrator pay, metro vs. US", "value": "$99,707 vs $102,503", "context": "Metro down significantly; national up moderately"}, {"label": "MA information-sector employment", "value": "-10% YoY", "context": "Statewide job losses, software/internet/data security"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Systems Administrator pay is diverging sharply from the national trend.", "body": "Metro advertised pay for Systems Administrators fell significantly to $99,707 while the national median rose to $102,503, a gap wide enough to suggest weakening local demand beyond typical noise. Compensation benchmarking against national figures for this role risks overpaying relative to what the local market is actually clearing."}, {"headline": "Help Desk pay strength cuts against the national grain.", "body": "Metro Help Desk/IT Support advertised pay (measured by job ads, which track demand and often cover several openings each) rose moderately to $57,448 even as the national median slipped to $53,129, pointing to tight local supply for frontline support talent despite seasonal volatility elsewhere in the economy. This narrows the usual cost advantage of hiring entry-level support staff on Cape Cod versus other New England markets."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity pay gains track the national tightening.", "body": "Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay moved up moderately to $110,425, mirroring the national increase to $107,327, suggesting this role is insulated from the seasonal and sector contraction affecting broader IT headcount. Expect continued competition for security talent regardless of the metro's off-season employment pullback."}, {"headline": "Statewide IT headcount caution is a leading indicator for this metro.", "body": "Massachusetts information-sector employment fell 10% year-over-year as firms favor automation and outsourcing ahead of backfilling attrition, a dynamic likely to reach Cape Cod's smaller, less diversified IT base faster than larger metros with deeper internal mobility options. Headcount planning should assume limited appetite for net-new local IT hires through year-end."}], "local_conditions": "Cape Cod's tourism-anchored economy is heading into its winter contraction, with the Cape & Islands Workforce Development Area's 3.6% August unemployment rate likely to climb as seasonal hospitality and retail staff are released from payrolls, a pattern that historically widens the metro's labor market swings far beyond the state's 4.3% baseline. Compounding the seasonal pullback, Barnstable County employment fell 1.9% year-over-year through March 2026 even as average weekly wages rose 2.4%, consistent with a shrinking resident labor pool commanding firmer pay for the workers who remain.", "implications": "Metro-level Systems Administrator pay dropped significantly to $99,707 against a national median climbing to $102,503 \u2014 a divergence that may reflect thinner local infrastructure demand or a smaller, less competitive candidate pool, and it complicates any assumption that Cape Cod offers a durable pay arbitrage for on-prem support roles. With statewide information-sector headcount down 10% year-over-year and employers broadly reluctant to backfill attrition, infrastructure and support functions in this metro look increasingly exposed to outsourcing or managed-services substitution as local rehire activity stays limited. Organizations should evaluate whether Systems Administrator and Help Desk vacancies are better filled through regional remote hires or outsourced support arrangements, given a seasonally thin local talent pool.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Seasonal inflection point", "body": "Watch Cape & Islands WDA unemployment readings through December as tourism and hospitality staff are released; a sharp rise could loosen the local labor pool for adjacent IT support and help desk hiring."}, {"category": "Compensation divergence", "body": "Track whether Systems Administrator advertised pay continues falling locally while rising nationally \u2014 a persistent gap may indicate the role is being deprioritized for outsourcing or absorbed into broader infrastructure contracts."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Statewide information-sector job losses (-10% year-over-year) have not yet shown up as Barnstable-specific WARN filings, but monitor state WARN data for any Cape Cod-based information or tech employer notices in November and December."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "National data center and AI infrastructure hiring growth, measured by job ads (postings up 20% in three months, a signal of hiring demand where one ad often covers several openings), has concentrated in secondary markets; assess whether any of that demand spills into Cape Cod's limited data center or hybrid infrastructure footprint."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 115980.0, "metro_p50": 150195.2, "metro_p75": 167500.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 145881.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 87620.0, "metro_p50": 99707.0, "metro_p75": 99707.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 102503.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 83140.0, "metro_p50": 120000.0, "metro_p75": 135675.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 115757.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 111434.5, "metro_p50": 130625.0, "metro_p75": 130625.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 50649.5, "metro_p50": 57448.0, "metro_p75": 57500.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 53129.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 90025.0, "metro_p50": 110425.0, "metro_p75": 126296.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 107327.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "IT Project Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 83193.0, "metro_p50": 116656.0, "metro_p75": 133525.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 118149.8, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development", "source_url": null, "statement": "Cape & Islands WDA unemployment at 3.6% in August 2026"}, {"source_name": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "Barnstable County employment declined 1.9% year-over-year through March 2026"}, {"source_name": "Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development", "source_url": null, "statement": "Massachusetts information-sector employment fell 10% year-over-year"}, {"source_name": "Indeed Hiring Lab", "source_url": null, "statement": "National data center job postings grew 20% in three months"}, {"source_name": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "Barnstable County average weekly wages rose 2.4% through March 2026"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "Massachusetts unemployment rate at 4.3% statewide"}], "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": "November 2026", "files": {"html": "barnstable-town-ma-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "barnstable-town-ma-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:18:27.934244+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/barnstable-town-ma-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/barnstable-town-ma-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}