{"schema_version": 1, "id": "houma-bayou-cane-thibodaux-la-msa/human-resources/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 219, "label": "Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA MSA", "slug": "houma-bayou-cane-thibodaux-la-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "human_resources", "slug": "human-resources", "label": "Human Resources"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T02:24:35.964977+00:00", "headline": "Houma HR pay splits sharply from national trend as trades tighten.", "headline_summary": "Houma-Thibodaux's HR Business Partner pay fell to a $55,068 metro median against a rising $83,900 national figure, while Recruiter pay jumped significantly as employers chase scarce maritime and trades talent.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Terrebonne Parish unemployment", "value": "4.1%", "context": "vs 4.0% Louisiana, 4.1% U.S. national"}, {"label": "HR Business Partner metro pay gap", "value": "$55,068 vs $83,900", "context": "Metro down significantly vs national up moderately"}, {"label": "Metro job growth forecast", "value": "3.1%", "context": "Fastest among Louisiana metros, ~2,700 jobs by Q2 2027"}, {"label": "Metro average hourly wage", "value": "$26.86", "context": "vs $33.54 national average (May 2025 data)"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "HR Business Partner pay is diverging sharply from the national market.", "body": "Metro median sits at $55,068 against a national $83,900, a gap that has widened this month as the local figure moved down significantly. Organizations benchmarking this role against national data risk under- or over-shooting local offers by a wide margin."}, {"headline": "Recruiter demand is heating up even as the broader labor market cools.", "body": "Local advertised pay for recruiters rose significantly this month while national pay held flat, pointing to employers investing in sourcing capacity to compete for scarce trades and maritime talent. This looks like a direct response to the acute shortage of TWIC-certified, welding, and CDL-HAZMAT workers flagged in state labor data."}, {"headline": "Wage growth statewide is not keeping pace with what workers need to stay.", "body": "Louisiana's average weekly wage rose 4.0% year-over-year to $1,274, still ranking 42nd nationally, and state labor analysts explicitly flag retention risk from paychecks lagging worker expectations. Houma's below-average hourly wage of $26.86 compared to the $33.54 national figure compounds this exposure for metro employers competing against better-paying regions."}, {"headline": "Fastest-forecast job growth in Louisiana adds hiring pressure.", "body": "Houma-Thibodaux is projected to add roughly 2,700 jobs through Q2 2027 at a 3.1% growth rate, the fastest pace among Louisiana metros. Combined with an already-tight 4.1% Terrebonne unemployment rate, this points toward intensifying competition for talent as labor supply stays constrained."}], "local_conditions": "Houma-Thibodaux employment held nearly flat in September at 86,300 nonfarm jobs, down 100 month-over-month but up 500 year-over-year, while Terrebonne Parish unemployment sits near 4.1% \u2014 among Louisiana's lowest, signaling a labor pool with little slack. Transportation and material moving roles remain the metro's defining feature, employed at 14.5% of local jobs versus 8.8% nationally, with sailors and marine oilers represented at over 126 times the national concentration \u2014 a maritime and energy dependence that continues to set local wage and hiring dynamics apart from statewide trends.", "implications": "Metro HR Business Partner and HR Coordinator advertised pay are down significantly and moderately respectively even as their national counterparts climb, suggesting local employers are either deprioritizing HR infrastructure investment or facing a thinner pool of candidates willing to accept current offers \u2014 either scenario complicates workforce planning for support functions already stretched thin. Recruiter pay is up significantly locally despite flat national movement, consistent with employers competing harder for sourcing talent in a tight maritime and trades labor market. Consider reviewing whether HR support-role compensation has fallen out of step with the broader local labor market tightness reflected in Terrebonne's sub-4.2% unemployment rate.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Whether metro HR Business Partner and Coordinator pay stabilizes or continues diverging from national trends over the next reporting cycle \u2014 a continued decline could signal local employers quietly restructuring HR support staffing."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Skilled trades and maritime labor shortages \u2014 welders, pipefitters, CDL-HAZMAT drivers, TWIC-certified longshoremen \u2014 show no sign of easing statewide, and Houma's transportation-heavy employment base makes it especially exposed. Expect continued upward pressure on recruiter investment and referral incentives."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "October's state-level employment print is due in the next release cycle; Louisiana's September job growth slowed to just 300 net jobs statewide after stronger summer gains. A soft October figure would be the first real test of whether Houma's 3.1% growth forecast is holding."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National wage growth composition is shifting as retiring Baby Boomers are replaced by lower-tenure, lower-paid workers, compressing average hourly earnings growth to 3.0% nationally. Watch whether this dynamic reaches Houma's maritime and trades workforce, where experienced workers are already scarce."}], "roles": [{"role": "Compensation Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 72000.0, "metro_p50": 103749.2, "metro_p75": 119850.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 100798.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "HR Business Partner", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 45760.0, "metro_p50": 55068.0, "metro_p75": 63945.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 83900.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Benefits Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 78500.0, "metro_p50": 116048.0, "metro_p75": 122990.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 118618.2, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "HRIS Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 78330.0, "metro_p50": 97000.8, "metro_p75": 105000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 95000.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "HR Coordinator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 35249.5, "metro_p50": 42073.8, "metro_p75": 50677.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 50460.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Recruiter", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 39926.75, "metro_p50": 44762.0, "metro_p75": 52365.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 67234.2, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Payroll Specialist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 45757.25, "metro_p50": 55000.0, "metro_p75": 64861.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 61103.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": "https://www.bls.gov", "statement": "Houma-Thibodaux nonfarm employment and Terrebonne unemployment figures"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": "https://www.bls.gov", "statement": "Transportation and material moving employment concentration locally"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics QCEW", "source_url": "https://www.bls.gov/cew/", "statement": "Louisiana average weekly wage growth and national ranking"}, {"source_name": "Louisiana Works", "source_url": "https://www.louisianaworks.net", "statement": "Skilled trades and maritime labor shortage specifics"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics / Regional economic forecast", "source_url": "https://www.bls.gov", "statement": "Metro job growth forecast of 3.1% through Q2 2027"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": "https://www.bls.gov", "statement": "Metro average hourly wage comparison to national average"}], "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": "houma-bayou-cane-thibodaux-la-msa/human-resources/2026-10.html", "pdf": "houma-bayou-cane-thibodaux-la-msa/human-resources/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:23:14.092182+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/houma-bayou-cane-thibodaux-la-msa/human-resources/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/houma-bayou-cane-thibodaux-la-msa/human-resources/2026-10.pdf"}