{"schema_version": 1, "id": "il-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-09", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 164, "label": "IL NONMETROPOLITAN AREA", "slug": "il-nonmetropolitan-area"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-09", "public_after": "2026-09-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T13:15:42.565811+00:00", "headline": "Downstate IT pay splits sharply between support and security roles.", "headline_summary": "Metro help desk pay fell to $55,958 while cybersecurity analyst pay climbed to $102,971, mirroring a statewide Information-sector contraction against Illinois' 4.7% unemployment rate.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Illinois unemployment rate", "value": "4.7%", "context": "vs 4.1% national, down from 5.1% in March 2026"}, {"label": "Metro help desk advertised pay", "value": "$55,958", "context": "Down significantly vs $53,644 national median"}, {"label": "Illinois Information sector jobs", "value": "-2,900 YoY", "context": "Against statewide total payroll gain of +15,000"}, {"label": "Illinois WARN filings YTD", "value": "91 notices / 16,782 workers", "context": "Includes T-Mobile, Uber, GoHealth in September"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Help desk pay is falling while cybersecurity pay accelerates.", "body": "Metro help desk advertised pay dropped significantly to $55,958 even as cybersecurity analyst pay rose to $102,971 locally. This divergence suggests employers are actively reallocating budget away from entry-tier support toward security and specialized functions, not simply responding to broad inflation."}, {"headline": "Illinois salary disclosure law narrows negotiation room on both sides.", "body": "Mid-2026 pay range disclosure requirements mean downstate IT employers now compete on visible numbers against Chicago postings, where base IT salaries average $135,456. Compensation benchmarking should account for candidates comparing postings across the state, not just within commuting distance."}, {"headline": "Network engineering pay growth outpaces admin roles, signaling skill stratification.", "body": "Metro network engineer pay rose to $107,352, a significant increase, while systems administrator pay growth was more moderate at $93,663. Advertised pay gaps consistent with CompTIA's finding that traditional network admin roles face structural demand compression relative to specialized infrastructure skills."}, {"headline": "Statewide Information-sector job losses may expand the local candidate pool.", "body": "Illinois Information sector payrolls fell 2,900 jobs year-over-year even as overall state employment ticked up 15,000. Downstate employers may find modestly more technical candidates available, though most displaced talent will skew toward urban markets first."}], "local_conditions": "Effingham-area IT hiring sits inside a statewide picture of stagnant job growth \u2014 Illinois unemployment held at 4.7% in August against a national rate of 4.1%, with Information sector payrolls down 2,900 jobs year-over-year across the state. Downstate labor supply remains thin relative to Chicago's tech density, meaning local employers compete against Chicago's third-ranked national AI hiring growth and salary disclosure requirements that now set a visible wage floor for comparable roles.", "implications": "Statewide Information-sector contraction alongside Chicago's AI-driven hiring surge creates a bifurcated market: commodity IT functions face continued demand compression while specialized cloud, security, and AI-adjacent roles see outsized pay pressure that smaller downstate employers struggle to match directly. Build-vs-buy decisions tilt further toward outsourcing or managed services for infrastructure and support functions, reserving scarce budget for retention of specialized in-house talent in security and cloud architecture. Consider reviewing which infrastructure and support roles could shift to contract or managed-service arrangements before committing to permanent headcount increases in a market where mid-level cybersecurity pay is climbing 10-15% statewide.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Worth watching", "body": "September Illinois WARN filings included T-Mobile, Uber Technologies, and Norvax/GoHealth, totaling over 1,200 affected workers statewide. Watch whether any displaced technical talent filters into the downstate candidate pool over the next quarter."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Illinois' salary range disclosure mandate is still working through its first full hiring cycles; expect postings data to sharpen as more employers adjust listed ranges to match realized offers. Compensation benchmarking accuracy should improve but may also compress negotiation flexibility further."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "September state labor data releases October 20 and may reveal whether Illinois' 4.7% unemployment rate continues easing from its March peak of 5.1%. A continued decline would tighten an already thin downstate technical labor pool heading into Q4 hiring cycles."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "National Indeed Job Postings Index turned positive for the first time in nearly four years, reaching 103.5 in mid-September. If this translates to downstate IT postings, expect earlier signs in network engineering and cybersecurity listings before support-tier roles follow."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 121026.0, "metro_p50": 153603.0, "metro_p75": 166262.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 148250.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 76914.5, "metro_p50": 93663.2, "metro_p75": 104495.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 101168.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 72870.25, "metro_p50": 107352.0, "metro_p75": 128143.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 114400.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 113420.75, "metro_p50": 152972.0, "metro_p75": 168423.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 153652.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 44494.0, "metro_p50": 55958.4, "metro_p75": 66763.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 53644.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 86651.75, "metro_p50": 102971.2, "metro_p75": 124885.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 106790.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "IT Project Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 81048.0, "metro_p50": 115230.0, "metro_p75": 125030.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 117530.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}], "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": "October 2026", "files": {"html": "il-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-09.html", "pdf": "il-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-09.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T13:51:40.172404+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/il-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-09.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/il-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-09.pdf"}