{"schema_version": 1, "id": "burlington-nc-msa/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 119, "label": "Burlington, NC MSA", "slug": "burlington-nc-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:01:55.177983+00:00", "headline": "Burlington IT pay splits sharply along skill scarcity lines.", "headline_summary": "Burlington's Network Engineer and Cybersecurity Analyst pay rose sharply this month while Systems Administrator pay fell to $72,025 \u2014 nearly 30% below the $102,503 national median.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Burlington MSA unemployment", "value": "3.8%", "context": "Down from 4.3% a year ago (Aug 2025)"}, {"label": "Metro job growth", "value": "-50 jobs/month", "context": "Average net loss through 2026, 5th-worst in US"}, {"label": "NC automation skills gap", "value": "-12", "context": "More postings than available candidates"}, {"label": "Systems Admin pay gap, metro vs national", "value": "$72,025 vs $102,503", "context": "Metro falling significantly, national rising"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Network Engineer and Cybersecurity Analyst pay is pulling away from the pack.", "body": "Both roles show significant upward movement in Burlington while Systems Administrator pay fell significantly and IT Project Manager pay dropped moderately. Compensation strategy increasingly needs to treat IT as a set of distinct talent markets, each moving on its own trajectory."}, {"headline": "Metro Systems Administrator pay is diverging sharply from the national trend.", "body": "Burlington's $72,025 median sits roughly 30% below the $102,503 national figure and is falling locally while rising nationally. This gap may signal that Burlington employers are under-pricing a role that is becoming more expensive to backfill elsewhere, creating retention exposure if administrators can work remotely for out-of-market employers."}, {"headline": "A flat local job market masks a tight talent market for technical roles.", "body": "Metro unemployment at 3.8% and net job losses of about 50 per month coexist with a statewide automation skills gap of -12 postings per candidate. Headcount planning should account for scarcity in specific technical skills even where overall metro employment growth looks weak."}, {"headline": "Immigration exposure adds a retention variable NC IT leaders cannot ignore.", "body": "Immigrants make up roughly one-third of North Carolina's software development workforce, concentrating risk in any organization reliant on that talent pipeline. Workforce planning for software and engineering roles should account for this exposure when assessing retention and succession depth."}], "local_conditions": "Burlington MSA unemployment held at 3.8% in August, down from 4.3% a year earlier, even as the metro continues shedding roughly 50 jobs a month on net \u2014 a split between labor market tightness and stagnant overall job creation. Statewide IT-relevant forces compound this locally: North Carolina's information sector employment remains negative year-over-year, and automation-related skills show a -12 supply gap, meaning Burlington employers compete for scarce technical talent inside a metro economy that is not generating new roles in volume.", "implications": "Tight local unemployment alongside flat metro job growth signals that Burlington IT functions face poaching risk without the cushion of a growing local talent pool to backfill departures \u2014 infrastructure and security roles are especially exposed given the statewide -12 automation skills gap. Divergent advertised pay trends compound this: Network Engineer and Cybersecurity Analyst pay is rising sharply locally while Systems Administrator and IT Project Manager pay is falling, suggesting employers are reallocating compensation toward defensible, scarce skill sets instead of raising pay broadly. Consider reviewing whether current infrastructure and security compensation reflects this bifurcation, instead of assuming uniform market movement across IT functions.\n\nFor build-versus-buy decisions, the combination of a shrinking NC information sector and statewide automation talent scarcity makes external hiring for specialized infrastructure work increasingly uncertain in cost and timeline. Organizations should evaluate whether routine infrastructure or automation functions are better sourced through contracted or offshore arrangements while reserving direct hiring for roles \u2014 like cybersecurity and network engineering \u2014 where advertised pay gains show employers are willing to pay to retain capability locally.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Burlington's net job losses of roughly 50 per month have persisted through 2026 despite falling unemployment. Watch whether this trend extends into IT-adjacent sectors like healthcare and manufacturing, which could either tighten the local technical labor pool further or begin releasing adjacent talent into it."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 workers through October, well above 2025's full-year total. Monitor whether displaced talent from larger NC metros like Raleigh or Charlotte begins filtering into the Burlington candidate pool, potentially easing local scarcity in infrastructure and support roles."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Systems Administrator pay fell significantly in Burlington while rising moderately nationally \u2014 a divergence that is not sustainable if remote work options expand local administrators' outside offers. Track whether local advertised pay begins correcting upward in the next one to two cycles."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Statewide automation skills gaps of -12 postings per candidate suggest outsourcing demand for automation and infrastructure work will keep building. Watch regional staffing and managed-services activity for signs that Burlington employers are shifting specialized work outside direct headcount."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 107650.0, "metro_p50": 132781.0, "metro_p75": 148500.0, "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": 64395.0, "metro_p50": 72025.0, "metro_p75": 72025.0, "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": "metro", "metro_p25": 82500.0, "metro_p50": 91542.0, "metro_p75": 100166.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 115757.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 99792.0, "metro_p50": 142500.0, "metro_p75": 158677.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 38405.0, "metro_p50": 43452.0, "metro_p75": 45069.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "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": 86895.0, "metro_p50": 107629.4, "metro_p75": 121682.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 107327.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "IT Project Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 87500.0, "metro_p50": 101677.0, "metro_p75": 105960.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 118149.8, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "NC Department of Commerce", "source_url": null, "statement": "Burlington MSA unemployment at 3.8% in August 2026, down from 4.3% a year earlier"}, {"source_name": "USA Facts / BLS Employment Data", "source_url": null, "statement": "Burlington metro averaged net loss of 50 jobs per month in 2026"}, {"source_name": "NC IT Labor Market Research", "source_url": null, "statement": "North Carolina automation skills show a -12 gap of postings to candidates"}, {"source_name": "NC IT Labor Market Research", "source_url": null, "statement": "Immigrants comprise about one-third of NC's software development workforce"}, {"source_name": "Tech layoff tracking data", "source_url": null, "statement": "133,417 tech employees laid off at 325 companies through October 21, 2026"}, {"source_name": "Advertised pay data", "source_url": null, "statement": "Systems Administrator advertised pay metro vs national comparison"}], "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": "burlington-nc-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "burlington-nc-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:19:20.210258+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/burlington-nc-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/burlington-nc-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}