Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Madison, WI 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
Wisconsin labor force participation at 64.5%, down from 65.4% year-ago
Joint Economic Committee / BLS — Wisconsin labor force participation rate comparison
This Month's Takeaways
Wisconsin 2026 wage growth forecast at 4.2% against 3.9% core CPI inflation
State of Working Wisconsin / COWS — Wisconsin wage and inflation analysis, September 2026
Wisconsin WARN notices totaled 56 filings affecting 3,914 workers in 2026
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development — WARN Act notice tracking, 2026
Local Economic Conditions
Madison MSA unemployment rate rose from 2.5% in May to 2.9% in July 2026
Bureau of Labor Statistics — Madison MSA local area unemployment statistics
Madison nonfarm employment fell 1.2% year-over-year through June 2026
Bureau of Labor Statistics — Madison MSA nonfarm payroll employment data
Looking Ahead
U.S. nonfarm payrolls added just 29,000 jobs in September with downward revisions
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National employment situation report, September 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