{"schema_version": 1, "id": "florence-sc-msa/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 189, "label": "Florence, SC MSA", "slug": "florence-sc-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:07:01.266872+00:00", "headline": "Florence IT pay lags state's data-center-fueled wage surge.", "headline_summary": "Florence MSA unemployment dropped to 4.2% in September while Systems Administrator pay rose to $78,296 locally \u2014 still 24% below the $102,503 national median as Charleston-area data center investment pulls wages upward statewide.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Florence MSA unemployment rate", "value": "4.2%", "context": "Down from 4.9% a year ago; still above Charleston's 3.2%"}, {"label": "Florence nonfarm employment", "value": "97,100", "context": "Up 600 jobs month-over-month, Sept. 2026"}, {"label": "Avg weekly wage growth, Florence", "value": "+10.6% YoY", "context": "Reached $811.86 in February 2026"}, {"label": "SC information-sector employment", "value": "-2,300 jobs", "context": "Only SC industry with annual losses through August"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Systems Administrator pay is closing the gap with the national median.", "body": "Metro advertised pay for Systems Administrators rose significantly to $78,296, yet remains nearly 24% below the $102,503 national median. Organizations relying on local benchmarks alone risk losing infrastructure staff to remote roles or Charleston-area employers paying closer to national rates."}, {"headline": "Help Desk pay compression signals a buyer's market \u2014 for now.", "body": "Metro Help Desk/IT Support pay fell significantly to $45,937, already trailing the national median of $53,129. Softening demand for entry-level support may create short-term hiring leverage, but could also accelerate turnover once nearby data center construction jobs create adjacent opportunities."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity pay is flat locally while national demand accelerates.", "body": "Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay held stable at $94,298 even as the national median climbed to $107,327 with moderate upward movement. A widening gap suggests Florence employers may be underestimating how portable and remote-friendly this role has become."}, {"headline": "Statewide data center buildout is reshaping the labor pool Florence competes in.", "body": "Google's $2 billion Dorchester County investment and Meta's $800 million AI-optimized facility are pulling infrastructure and construction talent toward coastal and upstate corridors. Florence employers planning headcount for network or systems roles should expect spillover wage pressure even without local data center activity."}], "local_conditions": "Florence MSA unemployment fell to 4.2% in September, a sharp 0.6-point drop from August, as nonfarm employment climbed to 97,100 \u2014 a tightening pattern consistent with statewide trends but still above Charleston's 3.2% and Greenville's 3.3%. Regional wage momentum (average weekly wages up 10.6% year-over-year through February) is occurring alongside a national information-sector contraction, suggesting Florence's gains are concentrated in logistics, manufacturing and retail employment.", "implications": "Florence's labor tightening is happening in a metro without the data center and cloud infrastructure investment reshaping Charleston, Spartanburg and Dorchester County, meaning local IT teams compete for talent against a statewide wage floor rising 6-10% annually without the compensating draw of marquee tech employers. Systems Administrator advertised pay in the metro is up significantly (now $78,296, still well below the $102,503 national median), indicating employers are paying more to retain infrastructure staff even as the role's national premium signals Florence may be under-pricing scarce technical talent relative to where it could migrate. Consider evaluating whether infrastructure and support roles tied to on-prem environments should be benchmarked against the state's data-center-driven wage curve, particularly before attrition reveals the gap.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Florence County's unemployment rate (4.1%) is now meaningfully below Darlington County's (4.5%), a divergence worth tracking as it may signal uneven talent availability across the metro's two anchor counties for in-office or hybrid roles."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Statewide IT and software investment exceeding 67% of total capital inflow since 2025 is concentrated outside Florence. Watch whether displaced or passed-over candidates from Charleston and Spartanburg data center projects begin surfacing in the Florence applicant pool."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 for the year, concentrated in large tech hubs. Monitor whether any of that displaced talent \u2014 particularly remote-capable cybersecurity or software talent \u2014 becomes available at rates competitive with Florence's current advertised pay."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Information-sector employment lost 2,300 jobs statewide over the past year even as overall state employment hit records. If that contraction persists into Q4, it may further suppress local advertised pay for support and administrative IT roles already trending down."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 105969.0, "metro_p50": 136514.0, "metro_p75": 160013.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 145881.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 69321.0, "metro_p50": 78296.4, "metro_p75": 93852.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 102503.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 79233.0, "metro_p50": 106364.0, "metro_p75": 111619.0, "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": 118103.0, "metro_p50": 153192.2, "metro_p75": 170000.0, "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": "metro", "metro_p25": 41145.5, "metro_p50": 45937.0, "metro_p75": 50067.25, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 53129.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 82681.0, "metro_p50": 94298.0, "metro_p75": 108716.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 107327.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "IT Project Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 88413.5, "metro_p50": 114400.0, "metro_p75": 126574.0, "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": "SC Department of Employment and Workforce", "source_url": null, "statement": "Florence MSA unemployment fell to 4.2% in September 2026"}, {"source_name": "SC Department of Employment and Workforce", "source_url": null, "statement": "Florence MSA nonfarm employment reached 97,100 in September"}, {"source_name": "SC Department of Employment and Workforce", "source_url": null, "statement": "Florence average weekly wages rose 10.6% year-over-year"}, {"source_name": "South Carolina Department of Commerce", "source_url": null, "statement": "Google's $2 billion Dorchester County data center investment"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "South Carolina information-sector employment fell 2,300 jobs annually"}, {"source_name": "Layoffs.fyi", "source_url": null, "statement": "Tech sector layoffs exceeded 133,000 employees through October 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": "florence-sc-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "florence-sc-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:21:58.873130+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/florence-sc-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/florence-sc-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}