Binghamton's economy splits: office pay climbs, care and factory pay slip.
4.4%
Binghamton metro unemployment
vs 4.1% US, 4.3% NY state, Aug 2026
103,800 vs 99,300
Employed residents vs payroll jobs
Residents up 1,500; payrolls roughly flat
$40,560
CNA/home health aide advertised pay
Down significantly; near $41,106 national
61.3%
NY labor force participation
Down from 61.5% in July 2026
This Month's Takeaways
01
Resident employment is rising faster than local payroll jobs.
Employed Broome/Tioga residents grew by 1,500 to 103,800 while metro payroll employment held near 99,300, a gap consistent with residents working outside the metro or in self-employment. That gap matters for how economic development officials read local job creation data going forward.
02
Health care and direct-care pay softness cuts against the sector's size.
CNA/home health aide advertised pay fell significantly even though health care and social assistance remains the metro's largest private sector at 16% of employment. A pay pullback in the region's biggest employment category is a meaningful signal for overall local economic health, not a niche development.
03
Professional-services pay strength stands apart from the broader metro trend.
Accountant, business analyst, and account manager advertised pay all rose significantly locally, outpacing several national benchmarks, even as manufacturing and administrative roles softened. That split is consistent with the national pattern of white-collar wage acceleration diverging from blue-collar and clerical softening.
04
Manufacturing wage softness bears watching given the sector's local weight.
Manufacturing production/assembler pay fell moderately to $35,253, well below the $39,520 national figure, even as manufacturing ranks among the metro's top three private industries alongside retail. Sustained underperformance versus national manufacturing pay could affect the metro's competitiveness for production investment.
Local Economic Conditions
Binghamton metro unemployment held steady at 4.4% in August, modestly above the national 4.1% and New York's 4.3%, as employed residents rose by 1,500 to 103,800 even while payroll job counts stayed flat near 99,300. Wage data show a bifurcated local economy: accountants, business analysts, and account managers posted significant advertised pay gains while manufacturing, CNA/home health aide, and HVAC technician pay fell significantly, suggesting cooling demand in production and direct-care work even as professional services tighten.
Open Threads in the Data
Divergence between rising employed-resident counts and flat payroll jobs is consistent with workers commuting out of the metro or shifting into self-employment, a signal economic development officials should track when assessing whether local job creation is keeping pace with labor supply. Significant pay softening in CNA/home health aide and manufacturing production work, set against the region's 16% health-care employment share, may point to softening demand or margin pressure in sectors the metro depends on most heavily for its employment base. Current conditions suggest commerce leaders evaluate business investment and expansion timing sector-by-sector rather than metro-wide, since professional/technical pay strength and direct-care/production softness point to a two-speed local economy.
Advertised Pay Indicators · WageScape Benchmark 25 Jobs
Job postings data for the Binghamton, 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 |
$33,800 |
→ Stable |
1,002 |
| Retail Cashier |
$34,320 |
→ Stable |
319 |
Transportation & Warehousing
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate |
$37,440 |
↓ Moderate decline |
357 |
| CDL Truck Driver |
$83,798 |
→ Stable |
1,381 |
| Delivery Driver |
$35,778 |
↓ Significant decline |
1,104 |
| Warehouse Manager |
— |
Limited local postings |
— |
Construction
| Construction Laborer |
$41,600 |
→ Stable |
70 |
Construction/Skilled Trades
| Electrician |
$70,566 |
→ Stable |
101 |
| HVAC Technician |
$63,349 |
↓ Significant decline |
28 |
Manufacturing
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler |
$35,253 |
↓ Moderate decline |
791 |
Cross-Sector
| Customer Service Representative |
$40,880 |
↓ Moderate decline |
207 |
| Operations Manager |
— |
Limited local postings |
— |
Leisure & Hospitality
| Food Service Worker |
$34,580 |
↓ Moderate decline |
83 |
Healthcare
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide |
$40,560 |
↓ Significant decline |
742 |
| Registered Nurse |
$105,820 |
→ Stable |
1,850 |
Admin/Office Support
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk |
$42,434 |
↓ Moderate decline |
187 |
Information/Technology
| Software Engineer |
$120,000 |
↓ Moderate decline |
525 |
| Data Engineer |
$78,894 |
→ Stable |
17 |
Professional & Business Services
| Accountant |
$77,047 |
↑ Significant increase |
76 |
| HR Generalist/Manager |
$58,646 |
↓ Significant decline |
30 |
| Marketing Specialist |
$59,470 |
→ Stable |
2,935 |
| Business Analyst |
$93,486 |
↑ Significant increase |
19 |
Finance & Insurance
| Financial Analyst |
$82,725 |
↓ Significant decline |
51 |
Government/Education
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher |
$44,530 |
↑ Moderate increase |
632 |
Cross-Sector Sales
| Account Manager |
$88,196 |
↑ Significant increase |
205 |
Industry Snapshot · Binghamton, 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 |
↑ +7.9% |
↑ +37.6% |
| Manufacturing |
↑ +20.1% |
↑ +158.6% |
| Retail Trade |
↓ −5.5% |
↑ +145.1% |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities |
↓ −14.0% |
↑ +239.8% |
| Information |
↑ +6.1% |
↑ +133.8% |
| Financial Activities |
→ +1.0% |
↑ +188.2% |
| Professional & Business Services |
↑ +15.7% |
↑ +143.3% |
| Education & Health Services |
↑ +21.4% |
↑ +119.2% |
| Leisure & Hospitality |
→ −2.8% |
↑ +72.0% |
| Government |
↑ +88.3% |
↑ +1092.3% |
Looking Ahead · Next 30–60 Days
Worth watching
Binghamton University and SUNY-area institutions remain a major regional employment anchor; watch whether the February WARN notice affecting 471 Sodexo dining-services workers at Binghamton University produces any ripple effects in regional food-service and facilities employment through year-end.
Emerging pressure point
Health care and direct-care pay fell significantly even as the sector carries the largest local employment share. Track whether Guthrie, UHS, or other regional health systems show hiring or wage shifts that would confirm or offset this month's pay softening.
Potential inflection point
Statewide labor force participation slipped from 61.5% to 61.3% in July, and NYC's unemployment improvement was driven by fewer job-seekers rather than more hiring. Watch whether Broome/Tioga participation follows the same pattern, which would mean a steady local unemployment rate is masking a shrinking labor pool rather than genuine strength.
Early indicator
National wage growth has slowed to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation, eroding real purchasing power. Local professional-services pay gains may be cushioning Binghamton consumers better than the national pattern, but sectors with falling local pay (manufacturing, direct care, logistics) face a tighter real-wage squeeze worth monitoring in local retail and consumer 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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