{"schema_version": 1, "id": "jackson-ms-msa/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 217, "label": "Jackson, MS MSA", "slug": "jackson-ms-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:14:57.656798+00:00", "headline": "Jackson IT pay outpaces the nation as labor supply shrinks.", "headline_summary": "Jackson MSA average weekly earnings grew 6.1% year-over-year to $1,056.44 even as the labor force contracted, while local Software Engineer pay at $161,121 now exceeds the $154,403 national median.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Jackson unemployment rate", "value": "3.0%", "context": "Sept 2026, 37th-lowest among 108 large metros"}, {"label": "Metro weekly earnings growth", "value": "6.1% YoY", "context": "$1,056.44 vs $995.73 a year prior"}, {"label": "Mississippi labor force participation", "value": "54.7%", "context": "2nd-lowest in U.S., down from 55.7% a year prior"}, {"label": "National tech layoffs YTD", "value": "133,417", "context": "Already exceeds all of 2025, 325 companies"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Jackson wage growth is outrunning the national rate.", "body": "6.1% year-over-year growth in average weekly earnings through June compares to 4.1% national average hourly earnings growth, suggesting Jackson employers are bidding up pay faster than the broader market to hold a shrinking labor force. Compensation plans built on national benchmarks alone will understate what it takes to retain talent here."}, {"headline": "Network Engineer and Software Engineer pay point to infrastructure strain.", "body": "Metro Network Engineer pay rose significantly to $88,400 and Software Engineer pay climbed to $161,121 \u2014 above the $154,403 national median \u2014 a gap consistent with concentrated local demand from data center and cloud migration projects. Budget for premium pay on infrastructure-adjacent roles even as other metro IT pay sits below national levels."}, {"headline": "Systems Administrator gap signals a build-vs-buy decision point.", "body": "Metro Systems Administrator advertised pay of $70,182 trails the national median of $102,503 by nearly a third, a wider spread than most other IT roles tracked locally. That gap, combined with the state's declining labor force participation, favors shifting routine infrastructure maintenance toward managed services or remote talent."}, {"headline": "State cybersecurity liability failure raises compliance cost exposure.", "body": "Mississippi's Senate failure to pass cybersecurity liability protection leaves breach-related damages uncapped for employers, a policy gap that compounds already-rising Cybersecurity Analyst pay (up moderately to $83,201 locally). CISOs building October budgets should treat this as a cost pressure independent of market pay movement."}], "local_conditions": "Jackson MSA unemployment held at 3% in September, among the lowest readings in a 108-metro ranking of larger labor markets, even as the civilian labor force contracted alongside a statewide participation rate near 54.7% \u2014 the second-lowest in the nation. Average weekly earnings across all private employees rose 6.1% year-over-year to $1,056.44 through June, a pace that outstrips national wage growth and signals a labor pool too small for current hiring demand.", "implications": "Tight local supply paired with above-national wage growth puts upward pressure on every IT requisition, but it hits hardest in roles the metro cannot produce in volume \u2014 cloud infrastructure, security, and senior engineering \u2014 where Mississippi's 1,880 software developers already earn 33% below the national mean and only 70% of bachelor's graduates stay in-state. Amazon's $25B data center build and the state IT department's active AWS/Azure postings confirm cloud and hybrid infrastructure skills are the binding constraint on headcount plans. Organizations should evaluate remote-first or regional-hub hiring models for infrastructure and security roles where local supply cannot scale with demand.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Amazon's $25B data center investment is expected to generate roughly 2,000 jobs; watch whether advertised pay for Network Engineer and Systems Administrator roles accelerates further as that project moves from announcement to active hiring."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Statewide labor force participation sits at a multi-year low of 54.7%, and Jackson's civilian labor force has contracted through the first half of 2026. A shrinking candidate pool against steady nonfarm job growth of 0.8% year-over-year suggests wage pressure on scarce technical roles will persist into early 2027."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 workers through October, well above all of 2025. Track whether any of that displaced talent \u2014 particularly remote-capable cloud or security specialists \u2014 surfaces in the Jackson candidate pool through relocation or remote postings."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Mississippi Department of ITS is actively posting AWS, Azure, and senior infrastructure engineer roles, a public-sector signal of accelerating cloud migration. Private employers competing for the same shallow pool of cloud-skilled candidates should expect upward pay pressure on these titles through Q1."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 109574.0, "metro_p50": 125596.0, "metro_p75": 140033.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 145881.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 60000.0, "metro_p50": 70181.6, "metro_p75": 84930.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 102503.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 63642.0, "metro_p50": 88400.0, "metro_p75": 104000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 115757.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 133456.0, "metro_p50": 161121.0, "metro_p75": 172534.75, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 41538.0, "metro_p50": 44702.0, "metro_p75": 49823.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 53129.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 78051.0, "metro_p50": 83201.0, "metro_p75": 95523.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 107327.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "IT Project Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 73270.0, "metro_p50": 95455.0, "metro_p75": 116427.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 118149.8, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "Mississippi Today / BLS", "source_url": null, "statement": "Jackson MSA unemployment at 3% in September, among lowest of 108 metros"}, {"source_name": "Mississippi Department of Employment Security", "source_url": null, "statement": "Jackson average weekly earnings rose 6.1% year-over-year to $1,056.44"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics / state occupational data", "source_url": null, "statement": "Mississippi software developers earn $99,840 mean vs $148,100 national"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "Mississippi labor force participation rate at 54.7%, 2nd-lowest nationally"}, {"source_name": "Layoffs.fyi / industry tracking", "source_url": null, "statement": "133,417 tech layoffs through Oct 21, 2026 across 325 companies"}, {"source_name": "Mississippi economic development reporting", "source_url": null, "statement": "Amazon $25B data center investment projected to create 2,000 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/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "jackson-ms-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:23:41.875716+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/jackson-ms-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/jackson-ms-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}