{"schema_version": 1, "id": "jonesboro-ar-msa/finance/2026-09", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 245, "label": "Jonesboro, AR MSA", "slug": "jonesboro-ar-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "finance", "slug": "finance", "label": "Finance"}, "period": "2026-09", "public_after": "2026-09-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T13:27:57.865459+00:00", "headline": "Jonesboro Controller pay converges with national median as FP&A gap widens.", "headline_summary": "Metro Controller pay climbed to $115,000, nearly matching the $113,754 national median, while FP&A Manager pay fell to $101,580 against a steady $128,139 nationally.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Jonesboro unemployment rate", "value": "4.2%", "context": "Up slightly vs 3.9% Arkansas statewide"}, {"label": "FP&A Manager pay gap", "value": "$101,580 vs $128,139", "context": "Metro vs national median, gap widening"}, {"label": "Arkansas financial activities jobs", "value": "-1,200 YoY", "context": "Sector shrinking amid record statewide employment"}, {"label": "National F&A hiring intent", "value": "74%", "context": "Leaders planning headcount increases despite layoffs"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "FP&A Manager pay gap versus national median is widening, not narrowing.", "body": "Metro median sits at $101,580 against a stable national figure of $128,139, a 21% spread that has moved in the wrong direction this cycle. Organizations recruiting FP&A talent from outside the metro should expect this gap to surface directly in offer negotiations."}, {"headline": "Controller pay is accelerating locally faster than the national trend.", "body": "Metro median Controller pay rose to $115,000, now essentially matching the national median of $113,754 and tagged as a significant local increase. This narrowing suggests local employers are bidding competitively for scarce senior finance leadership, a signal worth tracking against internal succession plans."}, {"headline": "Tax Specialist and Credit Analyst pay are both moving up sharply.", "body": "Metro Tax Specialist pay rose significantly to $41,146 and Credit Analyst pay to $61,569, both well below national medians but closing ground fast. These roles sit inside the broader F&A talent shortage story \u2014 a 2026 Talent Shortage Index of 77% nationally \u2014 and may require more frequent benchmarking cycles than historically necessary."}, {"headline": "Sector-level job losses mask role-level wage tightening.", "body": "Arkansas financial activities payrolls shrank by 1,200 positions year-over-year even as several finance role categories show significant local pay increases. Fewer open requisitions does not mean less competition for the candidates who remain, particularly in tax and credit functions."}], "local_conditions": "Jonesboro's unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2% in August even as nonfarm payrolls grew 600 jobs year-over-year to 64,500, a divergence that reflects labor force growth outpacing job creation rather than weakening demand. Statewide financial activities payrolls fell by 1,200 positions over the year, consistent with national financial-sector contraction, while education, health services, and trade sectors absorbed most local hiring momentum.", "implications": "Local financial activities headcount is contracting even as statewide labor force participation hits record highs, meaning Finance functions competing for analytical and accounting talent face a shrinking local applicant pool from the sector itself while competing against growing professional services demand. FP&A Manager advertised pay in the metro has fallen significantly to $101,580 against a stable $128,139 national median, a gap wide enough to complicate both retention of incumbents and recruitment positioning for roles requiring multi-market mobility. Consider reviewing FP&A and controller compensation structures against the national median before assuming metro-level figures reflect sustainable market rates for roles with regional recruiting reach.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Arkansas unemployment has fallen for four consecutive months to 3.9% while Jonesboro's ticked up to 4.2%, a local-state divergence worth tracking for signs of whether metro labor supply is loosening relative to the rest of the state."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "National financial activities employment has lost 129,000 jobs since May 2025, concentrated in insurance carriers; watch whether any of that displaced talent begins surfacing in regional candidate pools for accounting and analyst roles."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National F&A hiring intentions show 74% of finance and accounting leaders planning permanent headcount increases despite sector job losses, a contradiction that may resolve locally through contract and interim hiring rather than direct headcount additions."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Management and technical consulting services are projected to grow nearly 28% through 2026 statewide, a trend that could pull finance operations and analytics talent out of traditional corporate Finance roles in the Jonesboro market."}], "roles": [{"role": "Controller", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 106829.25, "metro_p50": 115000.0, "metro_p75": 115000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 113754.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Senior Accountant", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 74613.0, "metro_p50": 81243.0, "metro_p75": 85000.0, "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": 72500.0, "metro_p50": 88958.2, "metro_p75": 97922.75, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 94782.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Billing Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 31552.5, "metro_p50": 36318.4, "metro_p75": 38798.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 49512.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Tax Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 31249.0, "metro_p50": 41146.0, "metro_p75": 43202.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "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": 47939.0, "metro_p50": 61568.6, "metro_p75": 64703.0, "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": 85000.0, "metro_p50": 101580.0, "metro_p75": 125872.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "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": "jonesboro-ar-msa/finance/2026-09.html", "pdf": "jonesboro-ar-msa/finance/2026-09.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T14:31:46.288736+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/jonesboro-ar-msa/finance/2026-09.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/jonesboro-ar-msa/finance/2026-09.pdf"}