{"schema_version": 1, "id": "bay-city-mi-msa/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 81, "label": "Bay City, MI MSA", "slug": "bay-city-mi-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T02:57:41.524489+00:00", "headline": "Bay City IT pay rises as local labor pool shrinks.", "headline_summary": "Bay City's unemployment rate hit 4.7% and employment fell 2.2% month-over-month even as Software Engineer pay climbed to a metro median of $149,178, within striking distance of the $154,403 national figure.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Bay City unemployment rate", "value": "4.7%", "context": "vs 4.1% US, 5.0% Michigan statewide"}, {"label": "Bay City employment decline (MoM)", "value": "-2.2%", "context": "Sharpest decline among Michigan metros, Oct 2026"}, {"label": "Bay City labor force change since 2016", "value": "-1.9%", "context": "Largest decline among major Michigan metros"}, {"label": "Michigan IT employment growth (5-yr)", "value": "+8%", "context": "vs +1% overall Michigan job growth"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Software Engineer pay erases the small-metro discount.", "body": "Metro median pay of $149,178 sits within 3% of the $154,403 national figure, up significantly this month. Bay City employers can no longer assume geography delivers meaningfully lower engineering costs."}, {"headline": "Help Desk pay is rising locally while falling nationally.", "body": "Metro Help Desk/IT Support median climbed to $58,851 even as the national median slipped to $53,129. A shrinking local labor pool appears to be pushing up pay for entry-level support roles that are typically the first candidates for outsourcing or RPA."}, {"headline": "Systems Administrator pay gap with national median is widening the build-vs-buy case.", "body": "Metro median of $90,712 trails the national $102,503 by roughly $11,800, even as metro pay moves up moderately. Gap suggests infrastructure roles may be cheaper to retain locally than to recruit nationally, but tightening labor supply could close that advantage quickly."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity Analyst demand is tightening pay from both directions.", "body": "Metro median of $99,237 is up moderately alongside a comparable national increase to $107,327. Security headcount plans should assume continued upward pressure, given national WARN and layoff volume has held steady for security hiring even as it has loosened for general tech roles."}], "local_conditions": "Bay City's metro unemployment rate climbed to 4.7% in October against a backdrop of month-over-month employment decline of 2.2% \u2014 the sharpest contraction among Michigan metros \u2014 even as statewide IT employment continues expanding, a divergence that signals the metro's IT labor pool is shrinking faster than demand for technical skill is softening. Workforce erosion compounds a structural trend: Bay City's labor force has fallen 1.9% since 2016, meaning any local IT hiring push competes against a shrinking regional candidate base tied to a structural trend, not a cyclical downturn.", "implications": "Local labor supply contraction, set against Michigan's 8% five-year IT employment growth, means Bay City employers increasingly compete with Detroit, Lansing, and Grand Rapids metros for the same shrinking technical talent pool, facing regional competition for scarce talent rather than isolated local scarcity. Software Engineer pay has moved up significantly to a $149,178 metro median \u2014 nearly matching the national figure of $154,403 \u2014 suggesting local employers are already bidding aggressively for scarce senior technical talent, a sign that any Bay City cost advantage has eroded. Current conditions suggest organizations should evaluate whether commodity infrastructure and Level 2 support roles are better suited to managed services or regional remote hires, preserving local headcount budget for roles where Bay City must compete head-to-head on pay.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Watch whether Bay City's 2.2% month-over-month employment decline reverses or deepens in November data. A continued slide would tighten the local IT candidate pool further and strengthen the case for remote or regional hiring ahead of local recruitment."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 workers through late October 2026. Monitor whether displaced talent from larger Michigan metros or national tech hubs begins appearing in Bay City applicant pools, which could temporarily ease local scarcity in infrastructure and support roles."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Michigan's data scientist roles are growing fastest among IT functions statewide at 28.3%, while Bay City's metro Data Scientist pay sits stable at $141,000. Track whether that stability holds as surrounding metros compete more aggressively for analytics talent."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Statewide labor force participation continues declining across all 18 Michigan labor market areas. If Bay City's decline accelerates relative to peer metros, expect further upward pressure on advertised pay for roles already showing moderate-to-significant increases, particularly Help Desk and Cybersecurity Analyst."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 109397.0, "metro_p50": 141000.0, "metro_p75": 163300.0, "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": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 74948.0, "metro_p50": 90712.4, "metro_p75": 103750.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 102503.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 72269.0, "metro_p50": 103402.0, "metro_p75": 122300.0, "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": 54987.0, "metro_p50": 149178.4, "metro_p75": 176293.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 54437.0, "metro_p50": 58851.0, "metro_p75": 58851.0, "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": 84765.0, "metro_p50": 99237.0, "metro_p75": 120000.0, "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": 85840.0, "metro_p50": 112166.0, "metro_p75": 124800.0, "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": "Michigan State Office of Management and Budget", "source_url": null, "statement": "Bay City MSA employment declined 2.2% month-over-month, steepest among Michigan metros"}, {"source_name": "Michigan State Office of Management and Budget", "source_url": null, "statement": "Bay City labor force down 1.9% since October 2016, largest decline among major Michigan metros"}, {"source_name": "Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget", "source_url": null, "statement": "Michigan IT employment grew 8% over five years, projected to grow another 5%"}, {"source_name": "Michigan State Office of Management and Budget", "source_url": null, "statement": "Bay City unemployment rate reached 4.7% in October 2026"}, {"source_name": "Layoffs.fyi / tech layoff tracker", "source_url": null, "statement": "133,417 tech employees laid off at 325 companies through October 21, 2026"}, {"source_name": "Advertised pay data, October 2026", "source_url": null, "statement": "National Help Desk/IT Support median pay declined moderately while metro pay rose"}], "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": "bay-city-mi-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "bay-city-mi-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:18:34.605051+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/bay-city-mi-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/bay-city-mi-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}