Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · La Crosse, WI-MN MSA · October 2026
Every advertised-pay, job-posting and industry figure in this briefing comes from WageScape's own database of active job postings. The sources below back the external facts cited in the written analysis.
Sources cited in this report
Headline
La Crosse County unemployment fell to 2.9% from 3.1% in July
WIZM 92.3FM / Wisconsin DWD — County-level labor market data, September 2026
This Month's Takeaways
National wage growth fell to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation in September 2026
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National employment situation report, September 2026
Local Economic Conditions
La Crosse-Onalaska metro unemployment at 3.0% in August, down from 3.1%
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development / WIZM 92.3FM — Local county/metro unemployment report, September 2026
Wisconsin lost 8,100 jobs between November 2024 and July 2026
Wisconsin DWD / COWS 'State of Working Wisconsin' — State jobs report, September 2026
Looking Ahead
Black unemployment statewide at 7.2% vs 2.3% white unemployment, Q1 2026
COWS 'State of Working Wisconsin' report — Wisconsin equity labor market analysis, September 2026
Wisconsin WARN filings down 7% year over year, 56 notices in 2026
Wisconsin WARN Act filings — State layoff notice tracking, 2026
How the numbers are calculated
- Advertised pay is the median of the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro. It is not survey or payroll data.
- Percent changes compare the latest six full months with the six months before that, for the same metro and sector.
- Sectors group postings by the employer's industry (NAICS) classification into ten sectors. Where a metro has too few postings in a sector, the state figure is used instead.
- Role pay trends use the same comparison windows. "Stable" means a change of less than 3%; "moderate" 3–10%; "significant" more than 10%.
Official data for comparison