Brunswick's labor market runs hotter than the nation's.
2.70%
Glynn County unemployment
vs 4.1%-4.2% national, 3.2% Georgia
+3.8% YoY
Metro employment growth
48,097 jobs, Q1 2026, Georgia DOL
3.0%
National wage growth
Below 3.4% inflation, weakest since May 2021
+19.7%
Financial Activities wage growth, Brunswick
Weekly wages, Q1 2026 vs year-ago
This Month's Takeaways
01
Brunswick's unemployment edge over the nation is widening, not narrowing.
Glynn County's 2.70% rate compares with 4.1%-4.2% nationally and 3.2% statewide, a gap that has held or grown through mid-2026. That spread points to a local economy running measurably hotter than national momentum would suggest, relevant to any regional competitiveness pitch commerce leaders make to prospective employers or investors.
02
Service-sector wage surges may outpace what national data implies is possible.
Financial Activities and Other Services posted weekly wage gains of 19.7% and 17.1% locally even as national wage growth slowed to its weakest pace since 2021. Base effects from a smaller metro payroll make these percentages volatile, but the direction is consistent with a tightening local services labor pool worth tracking against incoming business formation data.
03
Manufacturing wage softness bucks the metro's otherwise upbeat story.
Manufacturing Production Worker pay fell significantly even as the broader metro posted 3.8% employment growth, echoing Georgia's statewide pattern of non-durable goods manufacturing softness. Commerce leaders tracking industrial recruitment should treat this as a sector-specific signal, not evidence of a broader local slowdown.
04
Public-sector stability remains a quiet strength for the metro.
Government accounts for 9,094 of the metro's roughly 48,000 jobs, a share that has shown no comparable contraction to the national 216,000-job government decline over the past year. That stability offers a counterweight to national headlines about federal and state payroll reductions and merits mention when assessing the metro's resilience to national fiscal headwinds.
Local Economic Conditions
Glynn County's unemployment rate held near 2.70% in July, well below both the state's 3.2% and the national 4.1% reading, as port, hospitality, and health-care activity continue to anchor a labor market tighter than the national trend. Brunswick MSA nonfarm employment reached 48,097 in Q1, up 3.8% year-over-year, with wage gains concentrated in Financial Activities (+19.7%) and Other Services (+17.1%), a pattern consistent with services-sector expansion outpacing the national slowdown in white-collar hiring.
Open Threads in the Data
Local labor market conditions are tighter than both state and national benchmarks, which is consistent with a business climate still favorable to expansion even as national payroll growth has slowed to roughly 29,000 jobs in September. Commerce leaders weighing site selection, capital investment, or workforce-development funding should treat Brunswick's sub-3% unemployment rate and above-national wage momentum in services as a signal of underlying demand rather than a statistical anomaly tied to seasonal tourism. Current conditions suggest local economic development planning should account for the gap between national wage-growth deceleration (3.0% annual, trailing 3.4% inflation) and Brunswick's stronger service-sector wage trends, since a widening local-national divergence has implications for consumer spending capacity and public revenue projections alike.
Advertised Pay Indicators · WageScape Benchmark 25 Jobs
Job postings data for the Brunswick, GA 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 |
$30,448 |
↑ Moderate increase |
361 |
| Retail Cashier |
$26,218 |
↓ Moderate decline |
144 |
Transportation & Warehousing
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate |
$39,520 |
↑ Moderate increase |
110 |
| CDL Truck Driver |
$83,000 |
↑ Moderate increase |
411 |
| Delivery Driver |
$33,280 |
↓ Moderate decline |
238 |
| Warehouse Manager |
— |
Limited local postings |
— |
Construction
| Construction Laborer |
$39,004 |
↑ Significant increase |
10 |
Construction/Skilled Trades
| Electrician |
$58,240 |
↓ Moderate decline |
22 |
| HVAC Technician |
$60,424 |
↑ Significant increase |
14 |
Manufacturing
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler |
$42,640 |
↓ Significant decline |
19 |
Cross-Sector
| Customer Service Representative |
$33,527 |
↑ Moderate increase |
77 |
| Operations Manager |
— |
Limited local postings |
— |
Leisure & Hospitality
| Food Service Worker |
$30,452 |
↓ Moderate decline |
1,763 |
Healthcare
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide |
$32,801 |
↓ Moderate decline |
242 |
| Registered Nurse |
$89,504 |
→ Stable |
459 |
Admin/Office Support
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk |
$38,651 |
→ Stable |
86 |
Information/Technology
| Software Engineer |
$151,646 |
↑ Moderate increase |
28,481 |
| Data Engineer |
— |
Limited local postings |
— |
Professional & Business Services
| Accountant |
$62,500 |
↑ Moderate increase |
36 |
| HR Generalist/Manager |
$68,969 |
↑ Moderate increase |
3,904 |
| Marketing Specialist |
$59,253 |
→ Stable |
2,746 |
| Business Analyst |
$76,560 |
↓ Significant decline |
18 |
Finance & Insurance
| Financial Analyst |
$71,289 |
→ Stable |
18 |
Government/Education
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher |
$51,376 |
→ Stable |
85 |
Cross-Sector Sales
| Account Manager |
$85,000 |
↑ Significant increase |
24 |
Industry Snapshot · Brunswick, GA 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 |
↓ −6.7% |
↑ +100.0% |
| Manufacturing |
↑ +28.1% |
↑ +335.1% |
| Retail Trade |
↑ +11.5% |
↑ +37.5% |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities |
↓ −5.8% |
↑ +210.9% |
| Information |
↑ +17.6% |
↑ +159.1% |
| Financial Activities |
↑ +20.7% |
↓ −37.3% |
| Professional & Business Services |
↓ −8.8% |
↑ +145.7% |
| Education & Health Services |
↓ −11.0% |
↑ +74.1% |
| Leisure & Hospitality |
↓ −6.3% |
↑ +33.8% |
| Government |
↑ +85.5% |
↑ +763.6% |
Looking Ahead · Next 30–60 Days
Expected
September Brunswick MSA unemployment data has not yet been released; watch for confirmation of whether the sub-3% trend held through late summer or whether seasonal tourism cooling nudges the rate upward.
Worth watching
Open positions in the metro stood at 459 as of mid-September, a figure economic development offices should track month-to-month as a leading indicator of whether local demand is broadening beyond services into logistics and manufacturing.
Potential inflection point
National wage growth falling below inflation (3.0% vs 3.4%) for the first time since 2021 raises the question of whether Brunswick's above-average service-sector wage gains can persist if national purchasing power continues to erode consumer demand feeding the metro's tourism and retail base.
Emerging pressure point
Georgia's manufacturing WARN filings account for nearly 39% of all state layoff notices historically; any new filing activity touching Brunswick's industrial employers, following Radial's 164-worker 2025 notice, would be the clearest local test of whether national manufacturing softness is reaching the coast.
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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