{"schema_version": 1, "id": "coeur-d-alene-id-msa/human-resources/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 200, "label": "Coeur d'Alene, ID MSA", "slug": "coeur-d-alene-id-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "human_resources", "slug": "human-resources", "label": "Human Resources"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T02:11:55.917186+00:00", "headline": "Coeur d'Alene wages outpace the nation \u2014 HR pay does not.", "headline_summary": "Kootenai County wages grew 5.2% year over year versus 3.6% nationally, yet local HR Business Partner pay sits at $67,478 against an $83,900 national median.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Kootenai County wage growth", "value": "5.2%", "context": "vs. 3.6% national average, past 12 months"}, {"label": "HR Business Partner pay gap", "value": "$67,478", "context": "Metro median vs. $83,900 national median"}, {"label": "Civilian labor force, Kootenai County", "value": "88,984", "context": "As of July 2026"}, {"label": "Idaho statewide unemployment", "value": "3.6%", "context": "Unchanged month over month, Sept. 2026"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "HR function pay is falling behind the roles it supports.", "body": "HR Coordinator, HR Business Partner, and HRIS Analyst advertised pay all dropped significantly locally while national medians held stable or rose, even as overall Kootenai County wages climbed 5.2% year over year. Compensation teams benchmarking their own departments against national data risk understating local flight risk."}, {"headline": "Healthcare and construction hiring is masking softness elsewhere.", "body": "County job growth over the past year concentrated in healthcare and construction, consistent with statewide patterns favoring infrastructure and clinical buildout. Employers outside those sectors should not assume the 5.2% wage growth figure reflects their own hiring environment."}, {"headline": "Benefits Manager pay strength points to rising plan complexity.", "body": "Metro Benefits Manager pay rose to a $100,754 median, tracking the national increase to $118,618 and consistent with Idaho's broader wage pressure story. Demand for this role looks tied to managing cost-shifting and plan design as much as headcount growth."}, {"headline": "Recruiter and Payroll Specialist pay stability signals a holding pattern.", "body": "Both roles held flat locally and nationally, a sign employers are maintaining current staffing levels in core HR delivery functions without new investment or cuts. That stability offers a planning anchor while other HR titles show more volatility."}], "local_conditions": "Kootenai County wages rose 5.2% over the past year, outpacing the national 3.6% average, even as the county's civilian labor force held near 88,984 and net in-migration continues to feed Idaho's structurally low unemployment pattern. Healthcare and construction drove most of the roughly 1,800 jobs added locally over the past 12 months, while HR-function roles advertised in the metro moved in the opposite direction, with HR Coordinator, HR Business Partner, and HRIS Analyst pay all down significantly against stable-to-rising national medians for the same titles.", "implications": "Metro-level wage growth is outpacing the nation while internal HR function pay is compressing, a divergence that suggests employers are prioritizing frontline and clinical hiring ahead of building out HR infrastructure to manage it. That gap puts retention risk on HR teams themselves: an HR Business Partner earning a $67,478 metro median against an $83,900 national figure is a flight risk the moment remote or hybrid roles open elsewhere. Consider reviewing internal HR compensation against national medians alongside external hiring benchmarks, since a strategy built to compete for nurses and tradespeople can quietly leave the people managing that strategy underpaid.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Compliance watch", "body": "Pay transparency laws now active in Connecticut, Maryland, and New Jersey have no direct Idaho analog, but multistate employers with Coeur d'Alene operations should confirm posting practices for any remote roles reporting across state lines."}, {"category": "Talent pipeline risk", "body": "Lewis-Clark State College's 3.4% enrollment drop and persistent healthcare hiring demand in North Idaho suggest the regional nursing and allied health pipeline will stay tight into 2027. Watch whether local hiring events in Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene convert to filled roles or simply recur month over month."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "HR Business Partner and HRIS Analyst advertised pay compression locally, against rising or stable national medians, may widen if remote work options pull local HR talent toward better-paying out-of-market roles. Track exit interview data for compensation-driven departures in HR and compensation functions specifically."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Idaho's 4.7% statewide wage growth in 2025 was the slowest pace since 2022, and south central Idaho has already shown softening job postings and wage declines. Confirm whether Kootenai County's above-average wage growth is durable or a lagging signal before locking in 2027 merit budgets."}], "roles": [{"role": "Compensation Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 77710.5, "metro_p50": 94509.0, "metro_p75": 104408.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 100798.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "HR Business Partner", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 55290.0, "metro_p50": 67478.0, "metro_p75": 75625.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 83900.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Benefits Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 83209.0, "metro_p50": 100753.6, "metro_p75": 126780.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 118618.2, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "HRIS Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 79904.0, "metro_p50": 82739.0, "metro_p75": 102500.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 95000.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "HR Coordinator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 41600.0, "metro_p50": 45047.0, "metro_p75": 45760.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 50460.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Recruiter", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 57200.0, "metro_p50": 60050.8, "metro_p75": 67366.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 67234.2, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Payroll Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 53303.5, "metro_p50": 66082.0, "metro_p75": 71500.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 61103.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "Idaho Department of Labor", "source_url": null, "statement": "Kootenai County wages rose 5.2% year over year"}, {"source_name": "Idaho Department of Labor", "source_url": null, "statement": "County added ~1,800 jobs over past 12 months led by healthcare, construction"}, {"source_name": "Idaho Department of Labor", "source_url": null, "statement": "Kootenai County civilian labor force at 88,984 in July 2026"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics / Idaho Department of Labor", "source_url": null, "statement": "Idaho unemployment rate 3.6% in September 2026, unchanged month over month"}, {"source_name": "Idaho Department of Labor", "source_url": null, "statement": "Lewis-Clark State College fall 2026 enrollment dropped 3.4%"}, {"source_name": "State legislative tracking", "source_url": null, "statement": "Pay transparency requirements active in Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey as of Oct. 1, 2026"}], "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": "coeur-d-alene-id-msa/human-resources/2026-10.html", "pdf": "coeur-d-alene-id-msa/human-resources/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:20:12.446819+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/coeur-d-alene-id-msa/human-resources/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/coeur-d-alene-id-msa/human-resources/2026-10.pdf"}