{"schema_version": 1, "id": "danville-il-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 183, "label": "Danville, IL MSA", "slug": "danville-il-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "restaurant_industry", "slug": "restaurant-industry", "label": "Restaurant Industry"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T06:25:39.810496+00:00", "headline": "Danville restaurant pay splits: Servers and Assistant Managers up, Shift Managers down.", "headline_summary": "Metro Server pay climbed to $36,069 and Assistant Restaurant Manager pay jumped to $42,020, even as Shift Manager pay slipped to $33,788 and metro unemployment eased to 4.5%.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Danville metro unemployment", "value": "4.5%", "context": "Down from 4.7% in Aug, 5.5% a year ago"}, {"label": "Non-farm employment change", "value": "-400 jobs", "context": "Year-over-year, despite falling unemployment"}, {"label": "Leisure-hospitality job growth", "value": "+50 jobs", "context": "Year-over-year, metro total 25,525 non-farm jobs"}, {"label": "National restaurant turnover rate", "value": "~80%", "context": "Up from 72% pre-pandemic baseline"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Server pay is outrunning the national trend.", "body": "Metro Server median pay of $36,069 sits above the $35,024 national figure and is moving up while the national number holds stable. Combined with the federal 80/20 rule's elimination, which lets employers lean harder on tipped minimums for side work, operators may be using base pay increases to stay competitive even as tip-credit flexibility expands."}, {"headline": "Assistant Manager pay jump signals a leadership pipeline squeeze.", "body": "A significant rise to $42,020 locally, well above the $39,211 national median, points to operators paying up to retain the bench strength that feeds General Manager roles. Restaurant Manager/GM pay itself is flat at $60,032, so the competition appears concentrated one rung down."}, {"headline": "Shift Manager softening looks like a compression risk.", "body": "Shift Manager pay fell moderately to $33,788, now closer to Crew pay ($31,200) than to Assistant Manager pay. Narrowing the promotion incentive from Crew to Shift Manager could blunt internal mobility just as external hiring gets harder."}, {"headline": "Local job growth absence contradicts easing unemployment.", "body": "Non-farm payrolls dropped 400 jobs year-over-year even as unemployment fell to 4.5%, consistent with workers leaving the labor force as employment holds flat. Leisure-hospitality's modest 50-job gain suggests restaurants are adding headcount against a shrinking competitive labor pool."}], "local_conditions": "Danville metro unemployment eased to 4.5% in September, down from 4.7% in August and a full point below last year's 5.5%, even as total non-farm employment fell 400 jobs year-over-year to 25,525 \u2014 a sign the labor pool is tightening without underlying job growth to match. Leisure-hospitality added 50 jobs over the same period, a modest gain set against national tipped-wage deregulation and a restaurant turnover rate now near 80%, both of which are reshaping how far a fixed labor budget stretches.", "implications": "Falling unemployment alongside flat-to-declining broader payrolls means Danville operators are pulling from a shrinking, more competitive applicant pool even though the regional economy is adding no net jobs \u2014 a dynamic that typically pressures advertised pay for hard-to-fill shifts before it shows up in formal wage data. Metro Server pay has moved up moderately to $36,069 against a national median of $35,024, while Assistant Restaurant Manager pay rose significantly to $42,020, suggesting front-of-house and junior management roles are where local competition is sharpest; Shift Manager pay has softened to $33,788. Consider reviewing whether Shift Manager compensation is falling behind the roles it's meant to backstop, since a widening gap to Assistant Manager pay could accelerate turnover in a position already exposed to the industry's structural churn.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Policy shift to monitor", "body": "Federal withdrawal of the 80/20 tipped-wage rule gives operators new flexibility to pay the $2.13 tipped minimum for side work without the prior 20% cap, though Illinois' $9.00 tipped floor already sets a higher baseline. Watch whether multi-state or neighboring-state operators adjust scheduling practices to capture savings on non-tip-producing tasks."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Shift Manager pay compression toward Crew-level wages is worth tracking in upcoming job ads, a signal of hiring demand (one ad often covers several openings); if the gap narrows further, expect higher turnover in a role that typically anchors mid-shift operations."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Illinois' Paid Leave for All Workers Act adds a fixed per-hour accrual cost across all payroll, landing as seasonal winter staffing cuts begin \u2014 a compounding cost pressure for operators trimming hours."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Continued non-farm payroll declines despite falling unemployment may signal labor force exits alongside market slack that is not easing; a shrinking applicant pool could keep upward pressure on Server and Assistant Manager pay even if broader metro employment stays flat."}], "roles": [{"role": "Assistant Restaurant Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 30027.0, "metro_p50": 42020.2, "metro_p75": 47296.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 39211.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Catering Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 38968.0, "metro_p50": 55000.0, "metro_p75": 61361.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 50076.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Crew", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 29443.0, "metro_p50": 31200.0, "metro_p75": 32240.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 30066.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Line Cook", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 32527.0, "metro_p50": 33280.0, "metro_p75": 37440.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 37421.4, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Restaurant Manager/General Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 59723.0, "metro_p50": 60032.4, "metro_p75": 60033.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 59724.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Server", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 20800.0, "metro_p50": 36069.0, "metro_p75": 36124.75, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 35024.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Shift Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 26300.0, "metro_p50": 33788.0, "metro_p75": 36790.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 33024.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "Illinois Department of Employment Security", "source_url": null, "statement": "Danville MSA unemployment fell to 4.5% in September 2026"}, {"source_name": "Illinois Department of Employment Security", "source_url": null, "statement": "Non-farm employment down 400 jobs year-over-year to 25,525"}, {"source_name": "U.S. Department of Labor", "source_url": null, "statement": "Federal 80/20 tipped wage rule withdrawn October 2026"}, {"source_name": "National Restaurant Association", "source_url": null, "statement": "Restaurant annual turnover reached approximately 80%"}, {"source_name": "Illinois Department of Labor", "source_url": null, "statement": "Illinois tipped minimum wage set at $9.00/hour statewide"}, {"source_name": "Illinois Department of Labor", "source_url": null, "statement": "Illinois Paid Leave for All Workers Act mandates accrued leave"}], "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": "danville-il-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10.html", "pdf": "danville-il-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:20:44.050937+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/danville-il-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/danville-il-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10.pdf"}