{"schema_version": 1, "id": "gainesville-ga-msa/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 179, "label": "Gainesville, GA MSA", "slug": "gainesville-ga-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:11:28.677787+00:00", "headline": "Gainesville IT pay softens as metro unemployment edges up.", "headline_summary": "Hall County unemployment rose to 3.0% while local Cybersecurity Analyst pay fell to $95,964 against a rising $107,327 national median \u2014 a gap that puts both retention and hiring on the agenda.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Hall County unemployment rate", "value": "3.0%", "context": "Up from 2.7% a year ago (Sept. 2026)"}, {"label": "Hall County labor force", "value": "112,548", "context": "All-time high, +1,976 year-over-year"}, {"label": "Georgia information-sector growth", "value": "37.1%", "context": "Single-quarter growth, Q2 2025"}, {"label": "National tech layoffs, YTD", "value": "133,417 workers", "context": "325 companies; exceeds all of 2025"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Metro cybersecurity pay is falling while national pay climbs.", "body": "Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay dropped locally to $95,964 even as the national median rose to $107,327 \u2014 a widening gap that raises flight risk for analysts who can work remotely for better-paying employers elsewhere."}, {"headline": "Record labor force growth hasn't translated into IT hiring slack.", "body": "Hall County's labor force and employed-resident counts hit all-time highs in September, but the gains are concentrated in healthcare, manufacturing and professional services, with technology lagging behind \u2014 IT leaders shouldn't expect local softening to ease specialized hiring."}, {"headline": "Network Engineer compensation signals a retention gap.", "body": "Local Network Engineer pay sits nearly $27,000 below the national median and is trending down while national pay trends up, consistent with a metro that is losing pricing power for infrastructure talent even as demand holds steady."}, {"headline": "Georgia's outsourcing infrastructure gives cover for support-tier hiring caution.", "body": "With domestic IT talent supply failing to meet demand statewide, the state's established BPO base offers a credible lower-cost path for help desk and routine infrastructure roles while local hiring focuses on higher-value, harder-to-outsource functions."}], "local_conditions": "Hall County's unemployment rate climbed to 3.0% in September, up from 2.7% a year earlier, even as the labor force and employed-resident counts both hit record highs \u2014 a pattern consistent with workers entering the market faster than employers are absorbing them, with no sign of a demand collapse. Statewide, Georgia's information-sector employment expanded 37.1% in a single quarter through mid-2026, suggesting metro IT demand is being pulled upward by state-level tech investment even as local network engineering and cybersecurity advertised pay have softened.", "implications": "Rising local unemployment alongside falling advertised pay for Network Engineers ($88,599, down) and Cybersecurity Analysts ($95,964, down) against national increases in both roles points to a metro-specific softening that could tempt leaders to delay infrastructure and security hiring \u2014 but Georgia's structural IT talent shortfall and 7,300+ projected software developer job growth by 2028 support reading this as a narrow, localized trend. Build-vs-buy math increasingly favors supplementing local hiring with Georgia's established BPO/IT outsourcing base (roughly 46,000 workers, $700M in exports) for routine infrastructure and support work while reserving local headcount for roles tied to the health system and manufacturing anchors driving metro demand. Consider reviewing whether Network Engineer and Cybersecurity Analyst compensation has drifted below the level needed to retain talent against national wage pressure before treating the local softness as a hiring green light.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Watch whether Hall County's unemployment uptick (2.7% to 3.0% year-over-year) continues into October data or reverses \u2014 a sustained rise would be the first sign of real IT labor slack beyond normal seasonal noise."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Cybersecurity Analyst and Network Engineer advertised pay are both declining locally while national pay rises; a widening gap over the next two cycles would sharpen retention risk for incumbent infrastructure and security staff."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Georgia's information-sector employment grew 37.1% in a single recent quarter \u2014 track whether that expansion reaches Gainesville specifically or remains concentrated in Atlanta-area tech corridors."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National tech layoffs have already surpassed 133,000 workers for the year; monitor whether displaced talent from larger markets begins appearing in the Gainesville candidate pool, potentially easing local hiring friction for infrastructure roles."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 114306.0, "metro_p50": 140663.4, "metro_p75": 159523.0, "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": 76062.0, "metro_p50": 92371.8, "metro_p75": 101450.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 102503.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 87478.0, "metro_p50": 88599.0, "metro_p75": 88599.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "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": 113585.25, "metro_p50": 150217.0, "metro_p75": 163775.75, "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": 41600.0, "metro_p50": 51462.0, "metro_p75": 51865.5, "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": 85498.0, "metro_p50": 95964.0, "metro_p75": 111817.5, "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": 80352.0, "metro_p50": 114441.0, "metro_p75": 128947.0, "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": "97.5 Glory FM/WGTJ Radio", "source_url": null, "statement": "Hall County unemployment rose to 3.0% in September 2026, up from 2.7% a year earlier"}, {"source_name": "Georgia Department of Labor", "source_url": null, "statement": "Georgia information/communication employment grew 37.1% in Q2 2025"}, {"source_name": "Georgia economic development data", "source_url": null, "statement": "Georgia BPO/IT outsourcing sector employs ~46,000 workers with ~$700M in service exports"}, {"source_name": "97.5 Glory FM/WGTJ Radio", "source_url": null, "statement": "Hall County labor force reached all-time high of 112,548 in September 2026"}, {"source_name": "Layoffs tracking data (industry reporting)", "source_url": null, "statement": "133,417 tech employees laid off at 325 companies through October 21, 2026"}, {"source_name": "Georgia Department of Labor workforce projections", "source_url": null, "statement": "Computer systems design and software developer jobs projected to grow 7,300+ by 2028 in Georgia"}], "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": "gainesville-ga-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "gainesville-ga-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:22:20.852012+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/gainesville-ga-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/gainesville-ga-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}