{"schema_version": 1, "id": "jackson-ms-msa/finance/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 217, "label": "Jackson, MS MSA", "slug": "jackson-ms-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "finance", "slug": "finance", "label": "Finance"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T05:26:00.960512+00:00", "headline": "Jackson finance pay falls as metro wages climb 6.1%.", "headline_summary": "Jackson MSA weekly earnings rose 6.1% year-over-year to $1,056.44, but Controller ($109,155) and FP&A Manager ($119,209) advertised pay both declined locally while national medians for those roles moved higher.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Jackson MSA unemployment", "value": "3.0%", "context": "vs 4.1% national rate, September 2026"}, {"label": "Metro weekly earnings growth", "value": "6.1%", "context": "$1,056.44 vs $995.73 a year prior"}, {"label": "MS finance & insurance wages", "value": "-1.1%", "context": "to $1,019/week, against 6.1% metro-wide gain"}, {"label": "CFO turnover rate, national", "value": "18.3%", "context": "Highest since the pandemic, per Crist|Kolder"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Finance pay in Jackson is diverging from the metro's wage story.", "body": "Overall metro weekly earnings rose 6.1% year-over-year, but finance and insurance wages statewide fell 1.1% and local Controller and FP&A Manager advertised pay both declined. Teams benchmarking finance roles against the metro's headline wage growth may be underpricing the talent they need to retain."}, {"headline": "FP&A Manager pay gap with the national market is widening.", "body": "Metro median advertised pay of $119,209 sits well below the $130,000 national figure and is moving down locally while rising nationally. Given elevated CFO and senior finance turnover nationally, this gap increases flight risk for FP&A leaders with remote-work options."}, {"headline": "Tax Specialist pay signals a local-national disconnect worth investigating.", "body": "Metro median advertised pay of $36,835 has declined significantly while the national median of $69,556 is rising sharply \u2014 nearly double the local figure. This spread may reflect role-scope differences in local postings, but it warrants a direct comparison before using it to set offers."}, {"headline": "Contract staffing growth complicates headcount cost forecasting.", "body": "With 70% of finance and accounting leaders nationally increasing contract talent use in H2 2026, flat Mississippi labor force participation (54.7%, lowest since April 2024) suggests local employers may lean further into contractors to fill finance gaps. Budget cycles built on FTE-only assumptions may understate true staffing costs."}], "local_conditions": "Jackson MSA unemployment held at 3% in September, even as nonfarm payrolls reached 301.3 thousand in July on strength concentrated in leisure and hospitality, while financial activities employment contracted 1.8% year-over-year. Average weekly earnings across all metro industries rose 6.1% year-over-year to $1,056.44, but Mississippi finance and insurance wages moved in the opposite direction, falling 1.1% statewide to $1,019 \u2014 a divergence that signals finance talent is not capturing the broader wage gains flowing through the local labor market.", "implications": "Metro-level earnings growth masks a finance-specific wage contraction, and advertised pay data confirms it: Controller postings in Jackson are down to a $109,155 median against a rising $115,420 national figure, and FP&A Manager pay has fallen significantly to $119,209 against a national median climbing toward $130,000. With CFO turnover nationally projected at 18.3% and 85% of CFOs reporting finance talent shortages, Jackson employers offering below-market or declining pay for finance leadership roles risk losing candidates to remote and out-of-market competition during a period when close-cycle retention is already fragile. Organizations should evaluate whether current Controller and FP&A Manager pay bands reflect a local discount that is no longer defensible given national-level wage pressure in those same functions.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Mississippi's $65B data center investment wave has already added 23,000 jobs and is fragmenting the local labor pool across sectors. Finance teams should watch whether this draws accounting and FP&A talent toward tech-adjacent employers offering higher starting pay."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Jackson financial activities employment fell 1.8% year-over-year even as leisure and hospitality grew 6.3%. A continued shift in sector mix could tighten the local candidate pool for finance roles faster than metro-wide unemployment figures suggest."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National CFO external hiring rate has climbed to 37.5% from 35% in 2025, a signal of accelerating senior finance churn. Jackson employers should monitor whether this trend reaches local Controller and FP&A Manager searches, particularly with local pay for those roles already trailing the national market."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Mississippi labor force participation sitting at 54.7%, the lowest since April 2024, suggests any uptick in finance hiring demand will meet a shrinking local supply. Watch whether open finance requisitions in the metro start taking longer to fill over the next two reporting cycles."}], "roles": [{"role": "Controller", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 92180.0, "metro_p50": 109155.0, "metro_p75": 125000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 115420.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Senior Accountant", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 73525.25, "metro_p50": 80000.0, "metro_p75": 90864.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 87731.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Financial Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 63155.0, "metro_p50": 87028.0, "metro_p75": 97849.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 94646.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Billing Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 34251.0, "metro_p50": 39393.0, "metro_p75": 46852.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 49000.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Tax Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 29162.0, "metro_p50": 36835.0, "metro_p75": 55841.25, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 69556.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Credit Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 41053.0, "metro_p50": 42822.0, "metro_p75": 44692.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 71397.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "FP&A Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 112192.0, "metro_p50": 119209.0, "metro_p75": 123869.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 130000.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "Mississippi Today", "source_url": null, "statement": "Jackson MSA unemployment at 3% in September 2026"}, {"source_name": "Mississippi Department of Employment Security", "source_url": null, "statement": "Metro average weekly earnings rose 6.1% year-over-year to $1,056.44"}, {"source_name": "Crist|Kolder Associates", "source_url": null, "statement": "CFO turnover projected at 18.3% in 2026, highest since pandemic"}, {"source_name": "MAVI", "source_url": null, "statement": "85% of CFOs report finance talent shortages"}, {"source_name": "Mississippi Department of Employment Security", "source_url": null, "statement": "Mississippi finance and insurance average weekly wage fell 1.1% to $1,019"}, {"source_name": "Mississippi state economic development reporting", "source_url": null, "statement": "Mississippi data center investment of $65B creating 23,000 jobs"}], "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": "jackson-ms-msa/finance/2026-10.html", "pdf": "jackson-ms-msa/finance/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:23:41.220825+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/jackson-ms-msa/finance/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/jackson-ms-msa/finance/2026-10.pdf"}