{"schema_version": 1, "id": "johnstown-pa-msa/finance/2026-09", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 237, "label": "Johnstown, PA MSA", "slug": "johnstown-pa-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "finance", "slug": "finance", "label": "Finance"}, "period": "2026-09", "public_after": "2026-09-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T13:27:54.071647+00:00", "headline": "Johnstown's jobless rate falls while its job base shrinks.", "headline_summary": "Unemployment dropped to 4.4% in July even as nonfarm payrolls fell 400 year-over-year, while Tax Specialist advertised pay in Johnstown sank to $40,373 against a national $65,842.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Johnstown unemployment rate", "value": "4.4%", "context": "Down from 5.1% in July 2025"}, {"label": "Johnstown nonfarm payrolls", "value": "49,800 jobs", "context": "Down 400 y/y despite falling jobless rate"}, {"label": "Average weekly wage, Johnstown MSA", "value": "$1,002", "context": "vs $1,654 U.S. average, Q1 2026"}, {"label": "National F&A hiring intent", "value": "74%", "context": "of F&A leaders plan headcount growth, H2 2026"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Johnstown's falling unemployment rate masks a shrinking job base.", "body": "Payrolls fell 400 year-over-year even as the unemployment rate dropped to 4.4%, consistent with labor force exits rather than hiring strength. Treat local rate improvements as a weak proxy for talent availability when building headcount plans."}, {"headline": "Tax Specialist pay has effectively collapsed in this metro.", "body": "Advertised pay fell to $40,373 locally against $65,842 nationally \u2014 a gap too wide to attribute to cost-of-living alone. Expect continued difficulty filling tax roles locally absent a remote-inclusive search strategy or a material rate correction."}, {"headline": "Credit Analyst pay is rising sharply while most roles stagnate.", "body": "Local advertised pay for Credit Analyst climbed to $86,300, outpacing the national figure of $71,758 and moving against the metro's broader wage stagnation. This divergence may reflect localized demand tied to lending or risk functions worth tracking separately from general finance hiring."}, {"headline": "National F&A hiring intent is accelerating, but Johnstown's sector data lags it.", "body": "74% of F&A leaders nationally plan to add permanent headcount in the second half of 2026, with a Talent Shortage Index of 77%, but Johnstown nonfarm employment contracted over the same period. Metro-level hiring plans should be benchmarked against local labor supply, not national sentiment surveys."}], "local_conditions": "Johnstown's unemployment rate improved to 4.4% in July 2026, down from 5.1% a year earlier, but nonfarm payrolls still contracted by 400 jobs year-over-year to 49,800 \u2014 a sign the tighter rate reflects labor force exits as much as genuine hiring strength. Local wage growth continues to trail badly: average weekly wages of $1,002 sit 39% below the national average of $1,654, while national financial activities employment has shed 129,000 jobs since May 2025, concentrated in insurance carriers \u2014 a headwind for any Finance function dependent on regional talent pipelines.", "implications": "Local pay compression against national benchmarks \u2014 Tax Specialist advertised pay down to $40,373 locally versus $65,842 nationally \u2014 signals Johnstown employers are increasingly unable to compete for specialized finance talent on rate alone, pushing more roles toward remote or hybrid sourcing from higher-paying metros. Pennsylvania's financial activities sector hit a record high statewide even as national insurance and information-sector hiring contracts, suggesting Finance headcount planning should separate state-level sector strength from metro-specific scarcity. Consider reviewing which Finance roles in Johnstown are realistically competitive on local advertised pay versus which require remote-inclusive sourcing to meet the 74% of F&A leaders nationally planning headcount growth this half.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Watch whether Cambria County's 36.6% annual jump in online job postings (March 2026) translates into filled positions or remains a symptom of extended time-to-fill in finance and adjacent roles."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Pennsylvania's financial activities sector hit a record high statewide in September with average weekly earnings of $1,863 \u2014 track whether any of that strength reaches Johnstown or remains concentrated in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh metro markets."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National average hourly earnings growth decelerated to 3.0% year-over-year in September, below expectations \u2014 if this holds, it eases pressure on 2027 salary budget planning even as role-specific scarcity (tax, credit) persists locally."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Pennsylvania logged 37 WARN notices in 2026 affecting 5,594 workers statewide; monitor regional filings for any Johnstown-area employer exposure that could add finance talent to, or remove it from, the local candidate pool."}], "roles": [{"role": "Controller", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 87500.0, "metro_p50": 117755.4, "metro_p75": 117756.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 113754.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Senior Accountant", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 78345.5, "metro_p50": 87500.0, "metro_p75": 91565.0, "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": 71759.0, "metro_p50": 91552.0, "metro_p75": 101000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 94782.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Billing Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 34561.5, "metro_p50": 45010.0, "metro_p75": 45650.5, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 49512.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Tax Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 33023.0, "metro_p50": 40372.6, "metro_p75": 42589.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 65842.4, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Credit Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 62500.0, "metro_p50": 86300.0, "metro_p75": 92500.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 71758.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "FP&A Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 103829.0, "metro_p50": 125017.0, "metro_p75": 140000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 128139.0, "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": "October 2026", "files": {"html": "johnstown-pa-msa/finance/2026-09.html", "pdf": "johnstown-pa-msa/finance/2026-09.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T14:31:45.362944+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/johnstown-pa-msa/finance/2026-09.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/johnstown-pa-msa/finance/2026-09.pdf"}