{"schema_version": 1, "id": "lebanon-pa-msa/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 250, "label": "Lebanon, PA MSA", "slug": "lebanon-pa-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:20:16.892348+00:00", "headline": "Lebanon infrastructure pay slides as security and engineering climb.", "headline_summary": "Systems Administrator pay in Lebanon fell to $87,500 against a rising $102,503 national median, even as local Cybersecurity Analyst and Software Engineer pay moved up.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Lebanon MSA unemployment", "value": "3.6%", "context": "Matches PA statewide rate, down from 4.4% a year ago"}, {"label": "Systems Admin pay gap", "value": "$87,500 vs $102,503", "context": "Metro down, national up \u2014 15% gap and widening"}, {"label": "PA tech skills shortage impact", "value": "71%", "context": "Tech leaders report project delays from skills gaps"}, {"label": "Comcast Technology Center layoff", "value": "634 workers", "context": "Effective Dec. 31, 2026, statewide WARN filing"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Infrastructure pay is falling behind in a market with no slack to spare.", "body": "Systems Administrator and Network Engineer advertised pay are both down locally while national figures rise moderately \u2014 a widening gap of roughly $15,000 and $10,000 respectively. Retaining admins and network staff in Lebanon increasingly means competing against remote postings paying national rates."}, {"headline": "Software Engineer pay climbing locally bucks the national plateau.", "body": "Metro Software Engineer pay is up while the national median sits stable, a reversal of the usual pattern where metro rates lag. This may reflect concentrated local demand from healthcare, logistics or manufacturing employers building internal platforms."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity demand is pricing in locally and nationally.", "body": "Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay rose both in Lebanon and nationally, consistent with skills-gap reporting showing security among the hardest capabilities to fill across Pennsylvania. Local employers appear unwilling to under-price this role even with a shallow regional candidate pool."}, {"headline": "Help Desk pay decline signals a role ripe for restructuring.", "body": "Help Desk/IT Support median pay fell both locally and nationally, tracking a broader national pattern of AI tooling and tiered support models compressing entry-level IT wages. Lower pay pressure here may free budget to redirect toward scarce infrastructure and security hires."}], "local_conditions": "Lebanon metro unemployment sits near 3.6%, tracking Pennsylvania's tightened 3.6% statewide rate and reflecting a labor force that has grown to a record 6,663,000 statewide even as local supply remains capped near 73,000-74,000 workers. A manufacturing-anchored regional economy \u2014 with average sector wages of $66,329 \u2014 competes for the same limited technical talent pool as nearby Harrisburg and Lancaster, compounding scarcity for infrastructure and support roles that serve healthcare and logistics employers like WellSpan and Good Samaritan Hospital.", "implications": "Metro advertised pay for Systems Administrator ($87,500) and Network Engineer ($105,405) trails national medians by 15-9% and is moving down locally while national rates climb, suggesting Lebanon employers are losing pricing power for infrastructure talent against remote-eligible national postings. Software Engineer and Cybersecurity Analyst pay moving up locally even as support-tier roles soften points toward a bifurcation IT leaders should plan around: retain and reward specialized cloud and security skill while reconsidering whether routine infrastructure and support functions need to be filled locally at all. Consider evaluating which infrastructure and help desk roles could shift to regional shared-services or outsourced support arrangements given the widening gap between local and national pay trajectories for those functions.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Comcast Technology Center's 634-worker layoff effective December 31 could release technical talent into the broader south-central Pennsylvania labor pool. Watch whether displaced infrastructure or support staff surface in Lebanon-area applicant flow over the next two months."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Lebanon County recorded 96 workers affected by Powered by FTGU-related notices this quarter, a small but locally material event in a metro with only ~73,000 workers. Any additional WARN activity in manufacturing or logistics bears watching given how tightly those sectors intersect with local IT support demand."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National information-sector hiring rates have fallen to 1.6% of employment, suggesting employers nationally are leaning on internal mobility over external recruiting. If that pattern holds locally, expect slower backfill timelines for infrastructure and security openings in Lebanon through year-end."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Statewide skills-gap data shows AI integration and security now outpacing traditional engineering as hardest to fill. Lebanon employers without scale to compete on AI/ML premiums may need to watch whether contract and offshore staffing options expand locally to fill the gap."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 116219.25, "metro_p50": 145700.0, "metro_p75": 163136.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 145881.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 80080.0, "metro_p50": 87500.0, "metro_p75": 87500.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 102503.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 65766.0, "metro_p50": 105405.4, "metro_p75": 106364.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 115757.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 110607.5, "metro_p50": 147944.0, "metro_p75": 163854.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 41939.0, "metro_p50": 50203.0, "metro_p75": 55679.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 53129.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 83595.0, "metro_p50": 101428.0, "metro_p75": 117314.0, "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": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 80657.5, "metro_p50": 115095.4, "metro_p75": 128677.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 118149.8, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "PA Department of Labor & Industry", "source_url": null, "statement": "Pennsylvania unemployment at 3.6% in September 2026, lowest since 2023"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics (LAUS)", "source_url": null, "statement": "Lebanon MSA unemployment 3.6% in June 2026"}, {"source_name": "Pennsylvania WARN Notice System", "source_url": null, "statement": "Comcast Technology Center WARN notice for 634 workers effective Dec. 31, 2026"}, {"source_name": "Pennsylvania WARN Notice System", "source_url": null, "statement": "Powered by FTGU layoffs affecting 96 workers in Lebanon County"}, {"source_name": "Industry survey (state IT labor market research)", "source_url": null, "statement": "71% of PA tech leaders report skills shortages caused project delays"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "US information-sector hire rate fell to 1.6% of employment by August 2026"}], "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": "lebanon-pa-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "lebanon-pa-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:24:58.859231+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/lebanon-pa-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/lebanon-pa-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}