Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Gadsden, AL MSA · October 2026
Every advertised-pay, job-posting and industry figure in this briefing comes from WageScape's own database of active job postings. The sources below back the external facts cited in the written analysis.
Sources cited in this report
Key Indicators
Alabama unemployment rate at 3.4%, unchanged from July 2026
Alabama Department of Workforce — September 2026 state labor market newsletter
Etowah County unemployment rate of 2.4%
Federal Reserve Economic Data / BLS — County labor force profile, 2026
This Month's Takeaways
Alabama employment declined 30,420 year-over-year to 2,282,055
Alabama Department of Workforce — September 2026 labor force statistics
Health Care and Social Assistance represents 28.2% of top Etowah County industries
U.S. Census Bureau / Executive Pulse — Etowah County industry employment breakdown, 2026
Local Economic Conditions
Gadsden MSA unemployment rate at 4.1% for July 2026
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Metropolitan area employment statistics, July 2026
Looking Ahead
National wage growth at 3.0% annual vs 3.4% inflation
Bureau of Labor Statistics — September 2026 employment situation report
How the numbers are calculated
- Advertised pay is the median of the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro. It is not survey or payroll data.
- Percent changes compare the latest six full months with the six months before that, for the same metro and sector.
- Sectors group postings by the employer's industry (NAICS) classification into ten sectors. Where a metro has too few postings in a sector, the state figure is used instead.
- Role pay trends use the same comparison windows. "Stable" means a change of less than 3%; "moderate" 3–10%; "significant" more than 10%.
Official data for comparison