{"schema_version": 1, "id": "jackson-tn-msa/finance/2026-08", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 278, "label": "Jackson, TN MSA", "slug": "jackson-tn-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "finance", "slug": "finance", "label": "Finance"}, "period": "2026-08", "public_after": "2026-08-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T16:25:36.008407+00:00", "headline": "Jackson's FP&A pay gap widens as state finance jobs contract.", "headline_summary": "FP&A Manager advertised pay in Jackson has fallen to $105,863 against a stable national median of $127,341, even as Tennessee's financial activities sector shed 700 jobs in August alone.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Madison County unemployment", "value": "3.9%", "context": "Down from 4.4% a year prior (March 2026)"}, {"label": "FP&A Manager pay gap", "value": "-16.8%", "context": "$105,863 metro vs $127,341 national, trending down"}, {"label": "TN financial activities jobs", "value": "-700", "context": "August 2026 monthly change statewide"}, {"label": "TN labor force change", "value": "-50,000", "context": "Year-over-year contraction through August 2026"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "FP&A Manager pay gap with national market is widening, not closing.", "body": "Metro median sits at $105,863 against a stable national figure of $127,341 \u2014 a nearly 17% discount that's moving in the wrong direction locally. For a role increasingly tied to AI-driven forecasting premiums nationally, this gap risks losing candidates to remote or regional competitors offering scope-adjusted pay."}, {"headline": "Tax Specialist and Credit Analyst pay are climbing fastest in the metro.", "body": "Both roles show significant upward movement locally \u2014 Tax Specialist up to $56,565 and Credit Analyst to $65,108 \u2014 suggesting employers are actively competing for compliance and risk-adjacent talent even as broader finance hiring cools. Worth benchmarking these roles more frequently than stable titles like Controller or Senior Accountant."}, {"headline": "State-level professional services losses may be masking local tightness.", "body": "Tennessee's professional, scientific and technical services sector lost 1,500 jobs in August, a contraction that doesn't necessarily translate to more available Jackson-area finance talent given the metro's small labor market and manufacturing skew. Local hiring managers should not assume statewide softening means easier recruiting in Jackson specifically."}, {"headline": "Controller and Senior Accountant pay stability may signal complacency risk.", "body": "Both roles show flat advertised pay locally and nationally this month, even as national F&A hiring managers report 69% making above-range offers for business-critical roles. Static local postings in a market where 90% of finance leaders nationally report fill-rate struggles could indicate under-competitive positioning rather than a genuinely balanced market."}], "local_conditions": "Madison County's unemployment rate held near 3.9-4.0% through early 2026, tightening from 4.4% a year prior even as the state's broader financial activities and professional services sectors shed 2,800 jobs combined in August. Jackson's manufacturing-heavy employment base \u2014 with production and material-moving roles far exceeding national concentration \u2014 leaves the metro's finance and accounting talent pool thin, exposed to statewide contraction in professional services hiring rather than local demand growth.", "implications": "Statewide declines in financial activities and professional/technical services jobs suggest Jackson employers drawing from a regional talent pool face a shrinking bench of experienced finance candidates, even as Tennessee's overall labor force shrinks by more than 50,000 workers year-over-year. Locally, FP&A Manager advertised pay sits $21,478 below the national median and trending down significantly \u2014 a signal that could reflect either softer local demand or a metro pay structure falling out of step with what multi-state employers now offer for the same scope of work. Consider reviewing FP&A Manager compensation structures against national movement before the next hiring cycle, particularly if roles require multi-entity or FP&A forecasting responsibilities comparable to larger markets.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Expected", "body": "BLS county and MSA-level unemployment data for August 2026 should publish in the coming weeks; watch whether Madison County's improving trend (3.9% in March) held through summer or reversed alongside the state's labor force contraction."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Tennessee's financial activities sector lost 700 jobs in August alone. If this contraction persists into fall, Jackson employers may see modest relief in candidate availability for accounting and analyst-level roles, though manufacturing-driven demand elsewhere in the metro could absorb that supply first."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "FP&A Manager advertised pay's significant local decline against a stable national figure warrants tracking next month \u2014 a single-month anomaly versus a sustained repricing has very different implications for retention risk in finance leadership pipelines."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National AI-skills premiums (up to 56% for technical accounting and FP&A roles) have not yet visibly appeared in Jackson's advertised pay data. Watch whether local employers begin layering AI-adjacent premiums onto Controller and FP&A postings as automation reshapes close-cycle staffing expectations."}], "roles": [{"role": "Controller", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 92500.0, "metro_p50": 115000.0, "metro_p75": 124618.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 112500.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Senior Accountant", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 73992.25, "metro_p50": 82379.0, "metro_p75": 85139.25, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 87731.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Financial Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 65648.0, "metro_p50": 74438.0, "metro_p75": 83989.5, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 82905.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Billing Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 33280.0, "metro_p50": 35522.0, "metro_p75": 41766.5, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 49700.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Tax Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 31291.0, "metro_p50": 56565.0, "metro_p75": 60287.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 66725.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Credit Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 54744.75, "metro_p50": 65108.0, "metro_p75": 69289.5, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 72000.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "FP&A Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 83283.0, "metro_p50": 105863.0, "metro_p75": 128819.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 127341.0, "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": "September 2026", "files": {"html": "jackson-tn-msa/finance/2026-08.html", "pdf": "jackson-tn-msa/finance/2026-08.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T16:34:21.296694+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/jackson-tn-msa/finance/2026-08.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/jackson-tn-msa/finance/2026-08.pdf"}