{"schema_version": 1, "id": "decatur-il-msa/life-sciences/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 166, "label": "Decatur, IL MSA", "slug": "decatur-il-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "life_sciences", "slug": "life-sciences", "label": "Life Sciences"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:57:41.725137+00:00", "headline": "Decatur life sci pays above-national rates for below-national headcount.", "headline_summary": "Decatur Research Scientist pay hit $155,923 against a $130,339 national median even as metro employment fell 400 jobs year-over-year and unemployment held at 5.1%.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Decatur nonfarm payrolls", "value": "47,700", "context": "Down 400 y/y; lost 200 more jobs in September"}, {"label": "Decatur unemployment rate", "value": "5.1%", "context": "Down from 6.1% a year ago (Aug 2026)"}, {"label": "Illinois labor force change", "value": "-1.3%", "context": "Year-over-year decline, tightening specialist supply"}, {"label": "U.S. lab/R&D vacancy rate", "value": "23.2%", "context": "Top 13 U.S. life sciences markets, Q1 2026"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Decatur pays a premium for research talent it can't easily source.", "body": "Research Scientist advertised pay reached a metro median of $155,923, above the $130,339 national figure, even as the metro shed jobs overall. Local employers appear to be bidding above national rates to retain scientific talent in a market too small to absorb churn."}, {"headline": "Biostatistician pay softening locally bucks the national script.", "body": "Metro Biostatistician pay moved down moderately while national pay held stable, a divergence that may reflect fewer local postings competing for talent or a shift toward outsourcing these functions to CROs. Worth testing whether this reflects actual demand cooling or thin local posting volume."}, {"headline": "Clinical Research Associate pay gap with national rates persists.", "body": "Metro CRA pay sits at $82,952 versus $90,065 nationally, even as national CRA demand stays candidate-driven with experienced professionals the bottleneck. Decatur-area organizations depending on local CRA hiring without remote or CRO-supported models may face longer time-to-fill as the gap widens."}, {"headline": "Shrinking labor force defines local talent supply.", "body": "Illinois' labor force fell 1.3% over the year and Decatur's unemployment decline came alongside job losses, pointing to workers exiting the labor force faster than they are being reabsorbed. Headcount planning should assume continued tightness in specialized roles even as topline metro employment appears weak."}], "local_conditions": "Decatur MSA nonfarm employment contracted again in September \u2014 a 200-job loss following an August count of 47,700, down 400 year-over-year \u2014 even as unemployment eased to 5.1%, a gap consistent with workers leaving the labor force faster than they are finding jobs. Illinois' statewide labor force shrank 1.3% year-over-year and life sciences incumbents like AbbVie post 200-plus openings in North Chicago, meaning Decatur-based biotech, pharma and device employers compete for the same shrinking pool of credentialed talent against better-resourced anchors two hours north.", "implications": "Metro-level job losses concentrated in legacy manufacturing sectors coexist with tight life sciences talent supply \u2014 regulatory affairs, clinical operations and biomanufacturing specialists remain scarce locally and nationally, with lab/R&D vacancy hitting 23.2% across major U.S. life sciences markets in Q1. Decatur's Research Scientist pay ($155,923 metro median) now exceeds the national figure, a sign that smaller markets must bid above national rates to attract scarce specialists even without cost-of-living discounts, while Biostatistician pay has moved the opposite direction \u2014 down moderately locally against a stable national trend. Organizations should evaluate whether build-vs-outsource tradeoffs with CROs and CDMOs for clinical data and biostatistics functions have shifted given this local pay softening alongside continued scarcity in regulatory and CMC roles.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Watch whether Decatur's September job loss (-200) extends into October data due in late November. A fourth consecutive month of decline would reinforce the case for outsourcing manufacturing and QC roles to CDMOs over expanding local headcount."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "AbbVie's 200-plus North Chicago openings in regulatory and senior scientist roles could pull experienced Decatur-area talent north given comparable commuting distance and scale advantages. Track whether local advertised pay for Regulatory Affairs Specialists ($92,186 metro) moves to compete."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Metro Biostatistician pay declined while Clinical Data Manager pay rose \u2014 a divergence worth confirming isn't a data artifact. If sustained, it may signal employers reallocating budget toward data management over classical biostatistics functions."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National quit rate sits at 1.9%, keeping experienced regulatory, CMC and clinical operations professionals largely in place. Expect continued difficulty backfilling senior roles locally through 2026 absent a meaningful uptick in voluntary turnover."}], "roles": [{"role": "Research Scientist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 93699.5, "metro_p50": 155923.0, "metro_p75": 180500.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 130339.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Clinical Research Associate", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 62979.0, "metro_p50": 82951.8, "metro_p75": 100588.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 90065.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Lab Technician", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 39644.25, "metro_p50": 42640.0, "metro_p75": 43069.25, "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": 68524.0, "metro_p50": 92186.0, "metro_p75": 114685.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "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": 97834.0, "metro_p50": 121911.0, "metro_p75": 121911.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 123653.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Biostatistician", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 94961.0, "metro_p50": 128650.0, "metro_p75": 144051.5, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 131958.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Validation Engineer", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 85140.0, "metro_p50": 99308.2, "metro_p75": 105159.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 106478.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "USA Facts", "source_url": null, "statement": "Decatur MSA lost 200 jobs in September 2026"}, {"source_name": "Illinois Department of Employment Security", "source_url": null, "statement": "Decatur nonfarm payrolls at 47,700 in August 2026, down 400 y/y"}, {"source_name": "Life sciences labor market research", "source_url": null, "statement": "Lab/R&D vacancy reached 23.2% across top 13 U.S. life sciences markets"}, {"source_name": "Illinois Department of Employment Security", "source_url": null, "statement": "Illinois labor force shrank 1.3% year-over-year"}, {"source_name": "Biopharma labor market research", "source_url": null, "statement": "National quit rate sits at 1.9%"}, {"source_name": "BioSpace", "source_url": null, "statement": "AbbVie has over 200 openings including North Chicago roles"}], "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": "decatur-il-msa/life-sciences/2026-10.html", "pdf": "decatur-il-msa/life-sciences/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:20:56.650475+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/decatur-il-msa/life-sciences/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/decatur-il-msa/life-sciences/2026-10.pdf"}