{"schema_version": 1, "id": "cleveland-tn-msa/life-sciences/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 129, "label": "Cleveland, TN MSA", "slug": "cleveland-tn-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "life_sciences", "slug": "life-sciences", "label": "Life Sciences"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:54:57.576560+00:00", "headline": "Cleveland TN labor tightens as Life Sci pay diverges from national trend.", "headline_summary": "Bradley County unemployment fell to 3.6% in September as local Biostatistician pay ($149,881) pulled ahead of the national median ($131,958), even as Regulatory Affairs pay dropped to $81,702 against a $103,780 national rate.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Bradley County unemployment", "value": "3.6%", "context": "Down from 4.0% in August 2026"}, {"label": "Metro mean hourly wage", "value": "$24.36", "context": "vs $33.54 national average (May 2025)"}, {"label": "Biostatistician pay premium", "value": "$149,881 metro", "context": "vs $131,958 national median"}, {"label": "Regulatory Affairs pay gap", "value": "$81,702 metro", "context": "vs $103,780 national, trending down"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Biostatistician pay in Cleveland now outpaces the national figure.", "body": "Metro median of $149,881 versus $131,958 nationally suggests local employers are paying a premium to secure analytical talent that otherwise has every incentive to work remotely for coastal biotech hubs. Treat this as a retention signal \u2014 losing a biostatistician here likely means losing them to a fully remote national employer."}, {"headline": "Regulatory affairs pay is falling locally even as the role stays hard to fill nationally.", "body": "Metro median dropped to $81,702, a wide gap from the $103,780 national figure, despite regulatory talent ranking among the hardest pharma roles to fill in 2026. Declining local pay in a nationally scarce skillset may signal employers are softening postings to manage budget, a gap likely to show up in time-to-fill and offer-acceptance rates."}, {"headline": "CRA compensation sits meaningfully below the national rate, raising flight risk.", "body": "Clinical Research Associate metro median of $85,330 trails the $90,065 national figure at a moment when experienced CRAs are the acknowledged bottleneck in the specialty, with national quit rates near 1.9% leaving few available to recruit. Organizations should evaluate whether current CRA pay structures can hold experienced staff against remote or CRO offers paying national rates."}, {"headline": "Validation Engineer pay is climbing locally while the national figure holds flat.", "body": "Metro median rose to $105,499 against a stable national $106,478, consistent with regional biologics and CDMO manufacturing investment pulling bioprocess and automation talent into competition. Current conditions suggest manufacturing-adjacent engineering roles may be the next pressure point for headcount planning as outsourcing expands in Middle Tennessee."}], "local_conditions": "Bradley County's unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in September from 4% in August, tightening a metro labor pool already thin on credentialed scientific and regulatory talent against a backdrop of mean hourly wages ($24.36) running roughly 27% below the national average. A metro economy anchored by healthcare systems (Skyridge, Cleveland Community Hospital) and light manufacturing offers little local depth in R&D or clinical operations talent, forcing Life Sci employers here to compete on advertised pay against regional and national CRO/CDMO markets.", "implications": "Metro wage levels sitting well under national averages across most occupations create a structural cost advantage for manufacturing and quality roles, but that same gap signals a shallow bench for specialized scientific, regulatory, and clinical talent \u2014 meaning Cleveland-based sites likely recruit beyond the MSA for CRA, biostatistics, and validation-engineering hires. Build-vs-outsource calculus tilts further toward CDMO partnerships for low-volume manufacturing programs given the regional expansion of outsourced capacity in Tennessee, freeing internal headcount for functions where local wage compression doesn't yet threaten retention. Consider reviewing whether Cleveland-based regulatory and clinical roles are benchmarked against the broader Southeast region rather than the metro median, since national-level competition for these skillsets is the binding constraint on local pay norms.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Bradley County's unemployment decline to 3.6% could tighten further if regional CDMO and manufacturing expansions (including Middle Tennessee's August Bioservices buildout) begin drawing technical talent out of the metro. Watch whether validation-engineer and quality-role postings lengthen in time-to-fill over the next two months."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Regulatory affairs pay is down locally while the role remains one of the hardest to fill nationally \u2014 a divergence that may not hold. Monitor whether Cleveland-area postings start reflecting upward correction as employers compete with Nashville and Memphis regulatory markets."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Tennessee WARN filings remain modest (49 notices, 6,603 workers statewide through October), but any Life Sci-adjacent manufacturing notice in the Cleveland MSA would be a meaningful signal given the metro's thin specialized labor pool. A single sizable filing here would move local supply more than it would in a larger metro."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National biopharma hiring sentiment is positive (64% actively recruiting) against a quit rate of just 1.9%, meaning growth plans nationally may increasingly target passive candidates in lower-cost metros like Cleveland. Expect increased remote and hybrid recruiting pressure on local biostatistics and clinical-data talent specifically."}], "roles": [{"role": "Research Scientist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 120640.0, "metro_p50": 133593.0, "metro_p75": 145080.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 130339.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Clinical Research Associate", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 59281.0, "metro_p50": 85330.0, "metro_p75": 101908.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 90065.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Lab Technician", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 39078.75, "metro_p50": 45213.0, "metro_p75": 47840.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 47840.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Regulatory Affairs Specialist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 62920.0, "metro_p50": 81702.0, "metro_p75": 87827.5, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 103779.6, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Clinical Data Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 95083.75, "metro_p50": 104652.0, "metro_p75": 110323.75, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 123653.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Biostatistician", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 108680.0, "metro_p50": 149881.0, "metro_p75": 149881.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 131958.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Validation Engineer", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 95603.25, "metro_p50": 105499.0, "metro_p75": 112796.5, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 106478.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "Cleveland Banner", "source_url": null, "statement": "Bradley County unemployment fell from 4% to 3.6% in September 2026"}, {"source_name": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "Cleveland MSA mean hourly wage of $24.36 vs national $33.54"}, {"source_name": "Industry biopharma workforce survey", "source_url": null, "statement": "Experienced CRAs are the hiring bottleneck with quit rate near 1.9%"}, {"source_name": "Life sciences labor market research notes", "source_url": null, "statement": "Regulatory affairs ranked among hardest pharma roles to fill in 2026"}, {"source_name": "Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development", "source_url": null, "statement": "Tennessee WARN notices total 49 filings affecting 6,603 workers in 2026"}, {"source_name": "Regional life sciences industry news", "source_url": null, "statement": "August Bioservices CDMO development expanding in Middle Tennessee"}], "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": "cleveland-tn-msa/life-sciences/2026-10.html", "pdf": "cleveland-tn-msa/life-sciences/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:20:08.427566+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/cleveland-tn-msa/life-sciences/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/cleveland-tn-msa/life-sciences/2026-10.pdf"}