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Labor Market Pulse
Holland-Grand Haven, MI Metro Edition
Focus: IT
Holland's 2.5% jobless rate masks a shrinking IT labor pool
2.5%
Holland unemployment rate
vs 5.0% Michigan average, 4.1% national
-3,100 jobs
Ottawa County employment change
Sept 2024 to Sept 2025, despite low jobless rate
$1,157
Ottawa County average weekly wage
+3.7% YoY, outpacing 2.5% national wage growth
5,120 workers
Michigan WARN filings, 2026 YTD
33 notices, manufacturing-led, none yet in Holland metro
This Month's Takeaways
Local Systems Administrator pay is outrunning the national market.
Metro advertised pay of $96,000 moved up significantly while the national figure of $101,168 rose only moderately, narrowing a gap that typically favored national postings. Infrastructure compensation benchmarks set even six months ago may already be stale.
Ottawa County's shrinking workforce is the real signal, not the jobless rate.
A 2.5% unemployment rate reads as labor abundance, but county employment fell by roughly 3,100 workers over the year — consistent with people leaving the labor force rather than finding jobs elsewhere. Headcount planning built on 'low unemployment equals available talent' assumptions should be reconsidered.
Network Engineer demand looks like a build-vs-buy inflection point.
Metro pay for Network Engineer roles ($118,552) now exceeds the national median ($114,400) and is rising significantly, an unusual local premium for a role nationally tagged as moderate growth. Current conditions suggest evaluating whether in-house network engineering capacity still pencils out against managed infrastructure providers.
Software Engineer pay is softening locally while holding nationally.
Metro advertised pay for Software Engineer roles fell moderately to $105,951 against a stable national median of $153,652 — a gap wide enough to suggest Holland-area employers are not competing for top-tier engineering talent on price. This may reflect a market better suited to remote or contract engineering sourcing than local permanent hiring.
Local Labor Conditions
Holland's 2.5% unemployment rate — among the lowest in Michigan even as the state average sits at 5.0% — reflects a labor market that looks tight on the surface but is contracting underneath, with Ottawa County losing roughly 3,100 workers between September 2024 and September 2025. Average weekly wages in the county rose 3.7% year-over-year to $1,157, a pace that outstrips national wage growth of 2.5% and signals employers are paying more to secure a shrinking pool of candidates rather than expanding headcount.
Leadership & Talent Implications
Low headline unemployment combined with a declining workforce means IT leaders are not competing in a slack market — they are competing for fewer available people, and advertised pay for Systems Administrator ($96,000, up significantly) and Network Engineer ($118,552, up significantly) roles locally is already outpacing national movement in those same titles. That dynamic favors retention investment over expansion for infrastructure and support functions, while specialized cloud and security hiring may increasingly require regional or remote sourcing to fill gaps the local labor pool cannot. Consider reviewing whether current infrastructure compensation reflects the county's 3.7% wage growth trend rather than statewide averages, which understate the premium being paid locally for scarce technical talent.
