{"schema_version": 1, "id": "green-bay-wi-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-08", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 187, "label": "Green Bay, WI MSA", "slug": "green-bay-wi-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "restaurant_industry", "slug": "restaurant-industry", "label": "Restaurant Industry"}, "period": "2026-08", "public_after": "2026-08-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T16:28:50.238133+00:00", "headline": "Green Bay pays up for GMs while entry-level wages cool.", "headline_summary": "Green Bay's GM/Restaurant Manager advertised median climbed to $57,642 even as the national figure fell to $59,762, while Crew and Shift Manager pay softened locally against a Wisconsin minimum wage still frozen at $7.25.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "GM/Manager advertised pay", "value": "$57,642", "context": "Up locally vs down to $59,762 nationally"}, {"label": "Wisconsin unemployment rate", "value": "3.2%", "context": "Down from 3.3% in July; below 4.1% national"}, {"label": "Brown County posted openings", "value": "18,541", "context": "As of Aug. 6, 2026, per Indeed.com"}, {"label": "Wisconsin tipped minimum wage", "value": "$2.33/hr", "context": "Unchanged since 2009; Milwaukee sets $12.00 base"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "General manager pay is rising against the national grain.", "body": "Green Bay's GM/Restaurant Manager advertised median climbed to $57,642 while the national figure fell to $59,762 \u2014 a narrowing gap that suggests local operators are paying up specifically to retain scarce leadership talent rather than following broader market softness."}, {"headline": "Entry-level softening doesn't mean entry-level slack.", "body": "Crew and Shift Manager advertised pay both moved down locally, but this likely reflects moderating urgency after last year's hiring surge rather than genuine surplus labor supply \u2014 Brown County's 18,500-plus open roles argue against reading this as easy hiring conditions."}, {"headline": "Wisconsin's frozen minimum wage is a widening liability, not a stable baseline.", "body": "The $7.25/$2.33 tipped floor hasn't moved since 2009, while Milwaukee's $12.00 minimum and multi-state tip-credit elimination trends raise the reference point candidates use to judge offers. Multi-location operators anchored to the state floor risk losing front-of-house candidates to employers who've already adjusted upward."}, {"headline": "National hiring rebound may mask a retention story locally.", "body": "Restaurant payrolls posted their largest national one-month gain since January 2023, yet operators nationally report quits and job openings both falling sharply \u2014 consistent with a market where retaining current staff, not filling new postings, is becoming the more urgent lever on labor cost."}], "local_conditions": "Brown County's roughly 18,500 posted openings against a 3.2% statewide unemployment rate confirm Green Bay operators are competing for a shrinking labor pool, with full-service restaurant employment nationally still 3.6% below pre-pandemic staffing levels. Wisconsin's frozen $7.25 minimum wage and $2.33 tipped rate leave local operators exposed as neighboring Milwaukee's $12.00 minimum and a wave of state-level tip-credit eliminations elsewhere raise the bar for what workers expect to earn.", "implications": "Restaurant Manager/General Manager advertised pay rose to $57,642 locally even as the national figure declined \u2014 a signal that Green Bay operators are bidding up leadership roles to protect against turnover in a metro where job openings vastly outnumber available candidates. Falling advertised pay for Crew, Catering Manager, and Shift Manager roles suggests softening urgency at the entry and mid-tier level, creating room to hold base wages steady there while redirecting increases toward retention-critical management and kitchen positions. Consider reviewing whether management pay increases are being funded by savings elsewhere in the labor line, rather than expanding total labor cost as a share of revenue.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Whether Green Bay's GM pay increase spreads to Assistant Manager and Shift Manager roles in coming months, or remains isolated to top leadership \u2014 a sign of whether retention pressure is concentrated or broadening."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Gasoline above $4/gallon nationally is testing discretionary restaurant spending; watch whether Brown County traffic softens enough to force labor-hour cuts even as staffing remains hard to fill."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Florida's minimum wage reaching $15.00 on September 30 adds to a growing list of states abandoning tip credit \u2014 a trend that could accelerate pressure on Wisconsin legislators and reshape candidate wage expectations even absent state action."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Continued net job losses in Wisconsin retail and trade sectors since January 2025 may push displaced workers toward food service; monitor whether Brown County's posted-opening count begins to shrink as a result."}], "roles": [{"role": "Assistant Restaurant Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 32282.75, "metro_p50": 37440.0, "metro_p75": 41198.75, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 39000.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Catering Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 37635.0, "metro_p50": 47874.4, "metro_p75": 52715.25, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 51585.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Crew", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 23920.0, "metro_p50": 27465.0, "metro_p75": 30203.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 29791.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Line Cook", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 30052.0, "metro_p50": 35360.0, "metro_p75": 37440.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 36702.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Restaurant Manager/General Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 49758.0, "metro_p50": 57642.0, "metro_p75": 62500.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 59762.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Server", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 26741.0, "metro_p50": 32127.0, "metro_p75": 35377.25, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 34915.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Shift Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 28443.0, "metro_p50": 33147.0, "metro_p75": 37440.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 32649.0, "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": "September 2026", "files": {"html": "green-bay-wi-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-08.html", "pdf": "green-bay-wi-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-08.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T16:34:05.495837+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/green-bay-wi-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-08.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/green-bay-wi-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-08.pdf"}