{"schema_version": 1, "id": "ma-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 318, "label": "MA NONMETROPOLITAN AREA", "slug": "ma-nonmetropolitan-area"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:21:41.581423+00:00", "headline": "Thin nonmetro talent pool meets statewide IT pay bifurcation.", "headline_summary": "Franklin County unemployment holds at 4.1% and Dukes County at 2.9%, while statewide IT pay gaps as wide as $52,419 to $168,172 push nonmetropolitan employers toward remote hiring and selective outsourcing.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Franklin County unemployment", "value": "4.1%", "context": "August 2026, matches MA statewide rate"}, {"label": "Dukes County unemployment", "value": "2.9%", "context": "Lowest in MA, reflects seasonal tourism economy"}, {"label": "MA information-sector job losses", "value": "-10,000 jobs YoY", "context": "10% sector-wide decline statewide"}, {"label": "New England wage growth", "value": "2.3% YoY", "context": "Slowest of 9 census divisions, Q2 2026"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Local talent scarcity favors retention over recruitment.", "body": "Small labor pools in Franklin and Dukes counties mean losing a senior infrastructure or security hire is costly to replace locally. Current conditions suggest prioritizing retention spend over expanded local recruiting budgets for hard-to-fill technical roles."}, {"headline": "Statewide IT wage bifurcation reaches even thin-population counties.", "body": "Massachusetts Information Security Engineers command $117,545-$168,172 while IT Tech roles average $52,419 \u2014 a 3-4x spread that nonmetropolitan employers cannot easily ignore. This gap may signal that commodity support work is a stronger outsourcing candidate than previously assumed, freeing budget for specialized retention."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity Analyst pay strength appears locally durable.", "body": "Metro median advertised pay for Cybersecurity Analyst sits at $110,425, trending up and outpacing the $107,327 national median. Consider benchmarking this role against current demand figures, given statewide information-security hiring momentum."}, {"headline": "Remote-eligible hiring may be the practical answer to local scarcity.", "body": "Dukes County's 2.9% unemployment and Franklin County's limited working-age population constrain any plan built on local-only hiring for platform or security roles. Nationally, 41% of technologists say they would trade salary for remote flexibility, suggesting nonmetro employers can source talent at a discount to Boston-metro rates by embracing distributed work."}], "local_conditions": "Franklin County's 4.1% unemployment rate tracks the state average while Dukes County sits near 2.9%, reflecting seasonal tourism labor dynamics tied to local industry mix. Statewide information-sector job losses of roughly 10,000 positions year-over-year, combined with Massachusetts' overall labor force contraction of 81,000 since March 2025, suggest the limited IT talent pool in these nonmetropolitan counties faces supply pressure without the offsetting demand growth seen in Boston-area tech hiring.", "implications": "Thin local IT labor supply in Franklin, Dukes, and Nantucket counties makes competing head-to-head for specialized infrastructure and security talent against Boston-metro and remote-eligible employers increasingly difficult, particularly as statewide Platform Engineer pay reaches $162,000-$198,000 for senior roles. Build-vs-buy decisions tilt toward outsourcing commodity support and legacy infrastructure management, given IT Tech roles averaging just $52,419 statewide against far steeper specialized-role premiums, while retaining the few high-value security and platform staff already on payroll becomes the priority. Consider evaluating remote and hybrid arrangements to access the broader Massachusetts and regional talent pool, expanding beyond local hiring for scarce infrastructure and security roles.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Data release pending", "body": "Official BLS metro-level unemployment and employment data for the MA Nonmetropolitan Area won't publish until December 2, covering October conditions. Headcount and budget decisions made this month rely on August county-level data and statewide trends as the best available proxy."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Statewide information-sector job losses of 10,000 positions year-over-year could eventually surface as available talent in nonmetropolitan counties if Boston-area firms continue conservative backfill practices. Watch regional job boards for signs of displaced Boston-metro IT talent willing to relocate or work remotely for nonmetro employers."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "New England nominal wage growth of just 2.3% year-over-year, the slowest of nine census divisions, implies continued real-wage erosion against 3.7% national CPI inflation. Expect retention conversations to intensify as technical staff compare local offers against national pay trends showing IT systems roles up 4.7% year-over-year."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National data center and infrastructure hiring is up sharply, with postings growing 20% over three months, while tech-hub markets pull back. Nonmetropolitan Massachusetts employers offering hybrid or on-premise infrastructure roles may find this a window to attract talent that values lower cost-of-living areas over coastal tech hubs."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 115980.0, "metro_p50": 150195.2, "metro_p75": 167500.0, "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": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 83165.0, "metro_p50": 108185.0, "metro_p75": 119846.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 102503.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 83140.0, "metro_p50": 120000.0, "metro_p75": 135675.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 115757.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 122000.0, "metro_p50": 156000.0, "metro_p75": 172685.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 47837.0, "metro_p50": 59496.0, "metro_p75": 66458.75, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 53129.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 90025.0, "metro_p50": 110425.0, "metro_p75": 126296.0, "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": 83193.0, "metro_p50": 116656.0, "metro_p75": 133525.0, "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": "Bureau of Labor Statistics / USA Facts", "source_url": null, "statement": "Franklin County unemployment rate at 4.1%, Dukes County at 2.9%"}, {"source_name": "Pioneer Institute analysis of BLS data", "source_url": null, "statement": "Massachusetts labor force shrank by 81,000 since March 2025"}, {"source_name": "Massachusetts IT labor market research notes", "source_url": null, "statement": "Massachusetts IT role pay ranges by specialization"}, {"source_name": "National IT labor market research notes", "source_url": null, "statement": "41% of technologists would trade salary for remote flexibility"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "BLS metro-level data for October 2026 scheduled for December 2 release"}, {"source_name": "Federal Reserve Bank of Boston", "source_url": null, "statement": "New England nominal wage growth of 2.3% year-over-year, Q2 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": "ma-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "ma-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:25:29.327330+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/ma-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/ma-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}