{"schema_version": 1, "id": "florence-muscle-shoals-al-msa/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 169, "label": "Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL MSA", "slug": "florence-muscle-shoals-al-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:07:55.555837+00:00", "headline": "Florence IT pay climbs on local scarcity as national tech trends soften.", "headline_summary": "Systems Administrator pay in Florence-Muscle Shoals reached a $100,013 median \u2014 nearly matching the $102,503 national figure \u2014 even as national tech layoffs topped 133,000 and Alabama unemployment rose to 3.5%.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Alabama unemployment rate", "value": "3.5%", "context": "Highest in nearly 10 years; up from 2.8% a year ago"}, {"label": "Lauderdale County unemployment", "value": "4.0%", "context": "September 2026, 1,755 unemployed persons"}, {"label": "Statewide cybersecurity openings", "value": "11,000+", "context": "Against 3.5% state unemployment rate"}, {"label": "Tech layoffs year-to-date (national)", "value": "133,417", "context": "325 companies; already exceeds all of 2025"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Infrastructure pay is outrunning the national trend locally.", "body": "Systems Administrator advertised pay sits at a $100,013 metro median, nearly matching the $102,503 national figure, while Network Engineer pay at $110,595 trails national by only about 4%. Both are rising moderately even as national information-sector hiring contracted, suggesting local scarcity is the dominant price driver for infrastructure roles here."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity scarcity is a statewide problem.", "body": "Alabama's 11,000-plus open cybersecurity roles statewide and Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay climbing to a $105,931 metro median (near the $107,327 national figure) indicate Florence employers are priced into a market shaped by Huntsville and statewide demand. Build-vs-buy calculus should account for this spillover effect, treating cybersecurity hiring as part of a regional talent market."}, {"headline": "Data Scientist pay gap reveals a market that hasn't caught up.", "body": "Metro Data Scientist advertised pay of $77,132 sits roughly 47% below the $145,881 national median, even as the role shows significant upward movement locally. That combination \u2014 low base, sharp growth \u2014 is consistent with a market just beginning to price analytics talent, meaning early movers may lock in advantages before compensation catches up to national levels."}, {"headline": "Help Desk pay is flat while entry-level supply tightens.", "body": "Metro Help Desk/IT Support pay has held stable at $50,597 even as Alabama's unemployment rate rose to 3.5% and prime-age labor force participation climbed to 79.5%. Stable pay alongside a slightly loosening labor pool may create a short window to backfill support roles before manufacturing and logistics employers \u2014 also competing for this same entry-level labor \u2014 push wages upward."}], "local_conditions": "Florence-Muscle Shoals labor supply stayed tight through October, with Lauderdale County unemployment at 4.0% and Alabama's statewide rate climbing to 3.5% \u2014 its highest reading in nearly a decade \u2014 as manufacturing and production work continue to absorb a disproportionate share of local employment. Muscle Shoals' new municipal pay plan, raising wages for non-emergency employees, signals public-sector compensation competition is intensifying in a metro where IT talent already competes against production, logistics and healthcare employers for a limited labor pool.", "implications": "Metro IT compensation is moving independently of softening national tech hiring: Systems Administrator and Network Engineer advertised pay are both up moderately locally, even as information-sector hiring nationally contracted and tech layoffs topped 133,000 year-to-date. That divergence suggests Florence-area employers are competing for a narrow local bench of infrastructure and network talent, since remote-capable roles increasingly leave the metro for higher-paying markets. Consider reviewing infrastructure and network compensation against metro-specific advertised rates, since the local supply constraint is setting the price here.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Statewide cybersecurity openings exceeding 11,000 against Alabama's rising 3.5% unemployment rate point to a skills mismatch. Watch whether Huntsville-area cybersecurity wage pressure begins pulling Florence-area analysts northeast over the next two months."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Muscle Shoals' new municipal pay plan for non-emergency staff may put upward pressure on public-sector-adjacent IT and support roles across the metro. Track whether county or city government IT postings follow with matching increases, tightening competition for infrastructure and support talent."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Alabama's data center workforce reportedly doubled in secondary markets statewide, with 49% of data center employers reporting wage pressure from skilled-worker competition. Monitor whether any announced data center or manufacturing automation projects land in the Shoals area, which would compress local infrastructure talent supply quickly."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 year-to-date, concentrated in large tech hubs more than secondary markets like Florence. Watch whether any of that displaced talent, particularly remote-capable engineers, begins showing up in the local candidate pool over the next 60 days."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 76821.5, "metro_p50": 77132.0, "metro_p75": 77132.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 145881.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 77818.5, "metro_p50": 100013.0, "metro_p75": 110843.0, "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": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 78831.0, "metro_p50": 110595.2, "metro_p75": 127613.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 115757.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 104079.0, "metro_p50": 148030.6, "metro_p75": 160000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 40232.0, "metro_p50": 50596.6, "metro_p75": 57772.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 53129.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 88357.0, "metro_p50": 105930.6, "metro_p75": 119825.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "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": 77557.0, "metro_p50": 111590.0, "metro_p75": 124467.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 118149.8, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "Alabama Department of Labor", "source_url": null, "statement": "Lauderdale County unemployment at 4.0% in September 2026"}, {"source_name": "BLS / Alabama Department of Labor", "source_url": null, "statement": "Alabama unemployment rate at 3.5%, highest in nearly 10 years"}, {"source_name": "Times Daily", "source_url": null, "statement": "Muscle Shoals pay plan raises for non-emergency employees"}, {"source_name": "Layoffs tracking aggregation (industry reporting)", "source_url": null, "statement": "Tech layoffs exceeded 133,000 workers through Oct. 21, 2026"}, {"source_name": "Alabama labor market research", "source_url": null, "statement": "Alabama has over 11,000 cybersecurity job openings statewide"}, {"source_name": "Industry labor market research", "source_url": null, "statement": "Data center workforce doubled in secondary states including Alabama"}], "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": "florence-muscle-shoals-al-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "florence-muscle-shoals-al-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:21:56.717965+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/florence-muscle-shoals-al-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/florence-muscle-shoals-al-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}