Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Lewiston, ID-WA 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
Key Indicators
National wage growth of 3.0% trailing 3.4% inflation
Bureau of Labor Statistics — September 2026 employment situation and CPI data
This Month's Takeaways
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories facility expansion into Nampa and Post Falls
Idaho Department of Labor — Around North Central Idaho economic activity report, September 2026
Local Economic Conditions
Lewiston MSA unemployment rate and year-over-year job gain ranking
Idaho Department of Labor — August 2026 unemployment report by MSA
North central Idaho advertised hourly wage rose to $27.02 from $24.06
Idaho Department of Labor — Around North Central Idaho economic activity report, September 2026
Looking Ahead
National nonfarm payrolls added only 29,000 jobs in September with downward revisions
Bureau of Labor Statistics — September 2026 employment situation report
Idaho federal government employment fell 7.0% in August
Idaho Department of Labor — August 2026 unemployment and industry employment report
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