{"schema_version": 1, "id": "mo-nonmetropolitan-area/finance/2026-08", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 311, "label": "MO NONMETROPOLITAN AREA", "slug": "mo-nonmetropolitan-area"}, "focus_area": {"key": "finance", "slug": "finance", "label": "Finance"}, "period": "2026-08", "public_after": "2026-08-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T16:25:57.793960+00:00", "headline": "Rural Missouri counties split: some tighten, some loosen.", "headline_summary": "Daviess County unemployment fell to 3.0% while Grundy climbed to 4.6% in the same month, as statewide manufacturing shed 1,000 jobs against a 2,200-job construction gain.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Daviess County unemployment", "value": "3.0%", "context": "vs 4.6% Grundy County, same region"}, {"label": "Missouri statewide unemployment", "value": "3.5%", "context": "vs 4.1% national rate"}, {"label": "Missouri manufacturing employment", "value": "-1,000 jobs", "context": "Aug 2026, vs construction +2,200"}, {"label": "Missouri UI Trust Fund balance", "value": "$1.27B", "context": "As of Aug 31, 2026, supports stable UI rates"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "County-level unemployment is diverging, not converging.", "body": "Daviess fell to 3.0% while Sullivan and Grundy rose to 4.5% and 4.6% in the same month. Finance teams sourcing talent across multiple counties in this footprint should expect uneven recruiting difficulty and calibrate offer strategy by location, not region."}, {"headline": "FP&A Manager pay is softening against a resilient national market.", "body": "Metro advertised pay for FP&A Manager is down moderately while the national median holds at $127,341, a nearly $10,000 gap. This may reflect softer local demand rather than talent surplus, worth watching before assuming budget headroom on this role."}, {"headline": "Manufacturing losses could reshape the local finance talent pool.", "body": "Missouri manufacturing shed 1,000 jobs in August while construction gained 2,200, a mix that plays out disproportionately in nonmetro industrial counties. Displaced plant-level accounting and controller talent may become available locally over the next quarter."}, {"headline": "Tax Specialist pay is falling locally while rising sharply nationally.", "body": "Metro advertised pay for Tax Specialist sits at $45,728, down moderately, against a national median of $66,725 climbing significantly. Widening gap of this size suggests local demand has not caught up with the national repricing of tax compliance skills."}], "local_conditions": "North-Central Missouri's nonmetropolitan counties show diverging labor conditions this month, with Daviess County tightening to 3.0% while Sullivan and Grundy climbed to 4.5% and 4.6% respectively, suggesting county-level talent pools are fragmenting rather than moving as a bloc. Statewide manufacturing losses of 1,000 jobs against a 2,200-job construction gain indicate goods-producing sector realignment that likely echoes in these rural counties' industrial and logistics employers.", "implications": "Divergent county-level unemployment across this nonmetropolitan footprint means headcount cost planning cannot rely on a single regional assumption \u2014 a finance function drawing talent from Daviess (3.0%) faces materially tighter recruiting conditions than one anchored in Grundy (4.6%). Manufacturing softness paired with construction strength suggests payroll tax accrual and benefit cost assumptions may need county-specific sensitivity rather than a blended Missouri average, particularly for budget cycles finalizing Q4 assumptions. Consider reviewing headcount forecasts by county footprint rather than treating the nonmetropolitan region as a single labor market.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Sullivan and Grundy counties' unemployment upticks (to 4.5% and 4.6%) warrant tracking over the next two reporting cycles to determine whether this reflects seasonal noise or a genuine softening trend in those labor pools."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Statewide manufacturing job losses, concentrated alongside Transportation & Logistics and Manufacturing as the top WARN-notice sectors in Missouri, may surface displaced finance and accounting talent from industrial employers in this footprint."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Missouri's Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund balance of $1.27 billion as of August 31 supports stable near-term UI rate assumptions, but nonmetro counties with rising unemployment could see localized claims pressure worth monitoring into Q4 budget cycles."}, {"category": "Data caution", "body": "July Missouri payroll figures were revised downward by 1,300 jobs after initial release, a reminder that monthly county-level unemployment reads in this nonmetro footprint may shift materially on revision \u2014 treat single-month swings cautiously in forecasting."}], "roles": [{"role": "Controller", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 86337.5, "metro_p50": 116108.4, "metro_p75": 119844.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 112500.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Senior Accountant", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 74985.5, "metro_p50": 79950.0, "metro_p75": 84801.25, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 87731.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Financial Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 67041.0, "metro_p50": 82629.4, "metro_p75": 93243.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 82905.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Billing Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 35143.0, "metro_p50": 41398.8, "metro_p75": 47772.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 49700.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Tax Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 31951.0, "metro_p50": 45728.0, "metro_p75": 57995.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 66725.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Credit Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 60000.0, "metro_p50": 60000.0, "metro_p75": 65366.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 72000.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "FP&A Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 98087.0, "metro_p50": 117396.8, "metro_p75": 125000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 127341.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [], "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": "September 2026", "files": {"html": "mo-nonmetropolitan-area/finance/2026-08.html", "pdf": "mo-nonmetropolitan-area/finance/2026-08.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T16:34:56.467706+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/mo-nonmetropolitan-area/finance/2026-08.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/mo-nonmetropolitan-area/finance/2026-08.pdf"}