{"schema_version": 1, "id": "flint-mi-msa/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 206, "label": "Flint, MI MSA", "slug": "flint-mi-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:06:12.540624+00:00", "headline": "Flint's shrinking workforce is pricing up local developer talent.", "headline_summary": "Flint's civilian labor force fell 8.6% year-over-year even as unemployment eased to 5.6%, while Software Engineer advertised pay climbed significantly to $148,616 \u2014 nearly closing the gap with the $154,403 national median.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Flint MSA unemployment rate", "value": "5.6%", "context": "Down from 5.8% August; vs 4.1% US rate"}, {"label": "Civilian labor force change", "value": "-8.6%", "context": "173,200 vs 189,600 one year ago"}, {"label": "Software Engineer advertised pay, metro", "value": "$148,616", "context": "Up significantly; near $154,403 US median"}, {"label": "Cybersecurity Analyst pay gap, metro vs US", "value": "$19,697", "context": "Metro down moderately; US up moderately"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Flint's labor force is shrinking faster than its unemployment rate suggests.", "body": "Civilian labor force dropped 8.6% year-over-year even as the jobless rate improved to 5.6% \u2014 fewer people are competing for a stable number of jobs. IT leaders recruiting locally should expect longer time-to-fill and weigh remote or hybrid postings to reach outside the shrinking Genesee County pool."}, {"headline": "Software Engineer pay is outrunning the national trend here.", "body": "Metro median advertised pay for Software Engineers rose significantly month-over-month to $148,616, nearly matching the $154,403 national figure while national pay held stable. That convergence suggests local employers are paying a premium to compete for a talent pool that is both small and shrinking."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity Analyst pay is falling locally while climbing nationally.", "body": "Metro median advertised pay moved down moderately to $87,630, against a national figure up moderately to $107,327 \u2014 a widening $19,700 gap. Local security roles risk losing candidates to remote opportunities paying national rates, reinforcing the case for outsourced SOC or managed detection services for routine monitoring."}, {"headline": "Systems Administrator and Network Engineer pay are both lagging national benchmarks by double digits.", "body": "Flint's Systems Administrator median sits roughly $12,000 below the national figure, and Network Engineer pay trails by over $20,000, despite both categories trending up or stable nationally. Persistent gaps at this scale may suggest infrastructure roles are increasingly filled through regional staffing or remote hires instead of local recruiting."}], "local_conditions": "Flint MSA unemployment fell to 5.6% in September, down 0.5 points from August, even as the civilian labor force contracted 8.6% year-over-year to 173,200 \u2014 a tightening driven mainly by workforce exit. End of the year-long Henry Ford Genesys nurses' strike and the restored Flint city labor contract with Local 1600 signal easing public-sector and healthcare labor friction, but neither moves the needle for Genesee County's thin technical talent pool, where average weekly wages trail the state average.", "implications": "Shrinking labor force paired with falling unemployment points to a supply problem: fewer available workers are competing for a stable number of jobs, which raises the cost and time of filling infrastructure, security, and support roles locally. Flint's Software Engineer pay has moved up significantly against a national median holding stable, suggesting local employers are bidding aggressively for scarce developer talent even as broader tech hiring cools elsewhere. Consider evaluating whether commodity infrastructure and Level 1/2 support functions are better suited to managed services or remote/offshore delivery, freeing a shrinking local labor pool for roles that require on-site presence or institutional knowledge.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Watch whether displaced workers from the Kroger closure or other Genesee County layoffs show movement into IT-adjacent support roles, which could temporarily ease Help Desk and entry-level hiring pressure."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 workers in 2026, concentrated in large tech hubs. Flint employers should monitor whether any of that displaced talent \u2014 particularly remote-capable engineers \u2014 becomes available at local-market rates."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Michigan's IT employment is projected to grow another 5% against roughly 1% overall state job growth, a trajectory that will keep competition for Flint's limited technical talent elevated regardless of broader unemployment trends."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Continued labor force contraction across Michigan's 18 metro areas, averaging a 6.8% year-over-year decline, raises the question of whether Flint IT roles increasingly need to be filled through remote hiring outside the metro entirely."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 109397.0, "metro_p50": 141000.0, "metro_p75": 163300.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 145881.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 74948.0, "metro_p50": 90712.4, "metro_p75": 103750.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 102503.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 84656.25, "metro_p50": 95003.4, "metro_p75": 100100.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 115757.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 118986.5, "metro_p50": 148616.0, "metro_p75": 166649.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 40668.0, "metro_p50": 45760.0, "metro_p75": 49621.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 53129.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 75333.0, "metro_p50": 87630.0, "metro_p75": 87630.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 107327.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "IT Project Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 85840.0, "metro_p50": 112166.0, "metro_p75": 124800.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 118149.8, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [], "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": "flint-mi-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "flint-mi-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:21:54.693929+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/flint-mi-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/flint-mi-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}