Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Jackson, MI 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
Michigan employment fell 25,000 in August 2026 with equal workforce decline
Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget — August 2026 state labor force data
This Month's Takeaways
Michigan projects 16,300 cyclical-sector job losses in 2026, 19,500 non-cyclical gains
Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget — Sector employment projections for 2026
Local Economic Conditions
Jackson MSA unemployment eased to 5.0% in August from 5.2% in July
Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget — State labor market area jobless rate release
Jackson MSA led Michigan metros with +1.2% annual payroll job growth
Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget — Metro-area nonfarm payroll comparison, Sept 2026
Looking Ahead
National wage growth fell to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation
Bureau of Labor Statistics — Average hourly earnings and CPI data, Sept 2026
Michigan WARN notices concentrated in manufacturing, 33 notices/3,720 workers
LayoffIQ — Michigan WARN Act notice tracking by sector
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