Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC MSA · October 2026
Every advertised-pay, job-posting and industry figure in this briefing comes from WageScape's own database of active job postings. The sources below back the external facts cited in the written analysis.
Sources cited in this report
This Month's Takeaways
NC manufacturing payrolls fell more than 11,000 jobs year-over-year
NC Department of Commerce — Statewide manufacturing employment decline, Jan 2025-Jan 2026
NC labor force participation fell to 57.8%, down 1.6 points year-over-year
NC Department of Commerce — August 2026 labor force participation data
61 WARN notices filed in NC in 2026, concentrated in manufacturing
NC Department of Commerce WARN Notices — 2026 year-to-date WARN Act filings by sector
Local Economic Conditions
Charlotte-area unemployment rate at 3.7% in August 2026, 11th among large metros
Bureau of Labor Statistics — Metro area unemployment rankings, August 2026
Charlotte employment growth revised down to 1.2% through December 2025
NC Department of Commerce — Revised metro employment growth estimate
Looking Ahead
National payrolls added 29,000 jobs in September, wage growth slowed to 3.0%
Bureau of Labor Statistics — September 2026 national employment situation report
How the numbers are calculated
- Advertised pay is the median of the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro. It is not survey or payroll data.
- Percent changes compare the latest six full months with the six months before that, for the same metro and sector.
- Sectors group postings by the employer's industry (NAICS) classification into ten sectors. Where a metro has too few postings in a sector, the state figure is used instead.
- Role pay trends use the same comparison windows. "Stable" means a change of less than 3%; "moderate" 3–10%; "significant" more than 10%.
Official data for comparison