Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Ithaca, NY MSA · October 2026
Every advertised-pay, job-posting and industry figure in this briefing comes from WageScape's own database of active job postings. The sources below back the external facts cited in the written analysis.
Sources cited in this report
Key Indicators
National unemployment rate held at 4.1% in August 2026
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National labor force statistics
This Month's Takeaways
Ithaca average weekly wages were $1,405 vs. $1,654 national in Q1 2026
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
Ithaca metro experienced -5.3% five-year job growth vs. 4.7% nationally through 2024
Bureau of Labor Statistics — Metro area employment trend analysis
Local Economic Conditions
Ithaca MSA unemployment rate reached 4.2% in August 2026, up from 3.3% in May
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Preliminary metro-area unemployment data
New York State unemployment rate was 4.3% in August 2026
NYS Department of Labor — Statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment figures
Looking Ahead
New York statewide labor force participation fell from 61.5% to 61.3% in July 2026
NYS Department of Labor — Labor force participation rate data
How the numbers are calculated
- Advertised pay is the median of the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro. It is not survey or payroll data.
- Percent changes compare the latest six full months with the six months before that, for the same metro and sector.
- Sectors group postings by the employer's industry (NAICS) classification into ten sectors. Where a metro has too few postings in a sector, the state figure is used instead.
- Role pay trends use the same comparison windows. "Stable" means a change of less than 3%; "moderate" 3–10%; "significant" more than 10%.
Official data for comparison