{"schema_version": 1, "id": "in-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 246, "label": "IN NONMETROPOLITAN AREA", "slug": "in-nonmetropolitan-area"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:13:33.488517+00:00", "headline": "Warsaw IT pay splits: infrastructure rises, support and PM roles fall.", "headline_summary": "Metro Network Engineer pay rose to $101,644 even as Help Desk/IT Support fell significantly to $49,920 and IT Project Manager pay dropped to $94,791, against a statewide labor force that shrank by roughly 18,900 workers over the year.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Indiana unemployment rate", "value": "3.4%", "context": "Up from 3.3%, first rise since Aug. 2024"}, {"label": "Statewide open IT-relevant job postings", "value": "106,223", "context": "As of Sept. 30, 2026 statewide"}, {"label": "Metro Help Desk/IT Support advertised pay", "value": "$49,920", "context": "Down significantly vs. national $53,129"}, {"label": "Indiana labor force change (YoY)", "value": "-18,900 workers", "context": "Shrinking pool despite stable postings"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Network Engineer pay is rising while support roles get cut.", "body": "Metro Network Engineer advertised pay climbed to $101,644 while Help Desk/IT Support fell to $49,920, a significant decline. Diverging trajectories within the same IT org may signal employers reallocating budget toward infrastructure buildout and away from frontline support headcount."}, {"headline": "IT Project Manager pay drop may reflect fewer standalone PM hires.", "body": "Metro IT Project Manager advertised pay fell significantly to $94,791 against a stable national median of $118,150. Consider whether this reflects project leadership folding into technical management roles instead of being hired as a dedicated function."}, {"headline": "Data Scientist and Software Engineer pay both soften locally against stable national trends.", "body": "Metro Data Scientist pay ($120,262) and Software Engineer pay ($118,138) are both down moderately, while national medians hold near $145,881 and $154,403. Widening metro-national gaps on these roles may indicate Warsaw-area employers are losing pricing power to compete for cloud and AI-adjacent talent."}, {"headline": "Statewide talent scarcity is structural.", "body": "Indiana's labor force shrank by about 18,900 over the year even as job postings held above 106,000 statewide. Build-vs-buy decisions for specialized infrastructure and security roles should account for a tightening pool that outside recruiting alone won't solve."}], "local_conditions": "Warsaw metro IT hiring is unfolding against a state labor pool that is shrinking \u2014 Indiana's labor force fell by roughly 18,900 workers over the past year even as the unemployment rate edged up to 3.4% in September, a sign of fewer available workers amid steady demand. Statewide IT pay fragmentation is widening: general IT averages $104,393 against $78,589 for technicians and expert-level ML roles reaching $204,804\u2013$315,344, pulling specialist compensation decisions upward even as support-tier roles stay cost-favorable.", "implications": "Shrinking labor supply alongside 106,223 open Indiana job postings means external IT hiring pipelines will likely stay thin through year-end, pushing retention and internal mobility ahead of recruiting as the primary lever for infrastructure and security headcount. Locally, advertised pay for Help Desk/IT Support ($49,920, down significantly) and IT Project Manager ($94,791, down significantly) is softening even as Network Engineer pay rises ($101,644), suggesting employers are consolidating support functions while protecting network and infrastructure capacity. Consider reviewing whether declining advertised rates for support and PM roles reflect falling demand or a pivot toward outsourcing those functions while reinvesting in infrastructure-critical talent.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Watch whether Network Engineer pay continues climbing locally as data center and infrastructure buildout activity across Indiana (including the Meta LEAP District project) competes for the same technical labor pool."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Significant declines in Help Desk/IT Support and IT Project Manager advertised pay warrant tracking into November \u2014 if the trend persists, it may support a case for outsourcing routine support and PM functions instead of rebuilding internal headcount."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Indiana's first unemployment uptick since August 2024, even if not statistically significant per BLS, bears monitoring for whether it signals loosening in adjacent technical labor pools heading into 2027."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National tech layoffs already exceeding 133,000 through October may begin feeding candidate flow into secondary markets like Warsaw; track whether displaced cloud or AI talent appears in local applicant pools over the next two months."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 110428.0, "metro_p50": 120262.0, "metro_p75": 131116.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 145881.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 70083.0, "metro_p50": 87430.0, "metro_p75": 92965.0, "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": 77500.0, "metro_p50": 101644.0, "metro_p75": 121546.5, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 115757.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 99025.0, "metro_p50": 118138.0, "metro_p75": 135910.75, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 43811.0, "metro_p50": 49920.0, "metro_p75": 54080.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 53129.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 75889.0, "metro_p50": 83371.0, "metro_p75": 97871.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 107327.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "IT Project Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 65976.0, "metro_p50": 94791.2, "metro_p75": 102528.5, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 118149.8, "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": "November 2026", "files": {"html": "in-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "in-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:23:31.653903+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/in-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/in-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}