Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · MO NONMETROPOLITAN AREA · 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
This Month's Takeaways
National wage growth of 3.0% trails inflation of 3.4%, weakest since May 2021
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National wage and CPI data, September 2026
National government payrolls shed 17,000 jobs in September, 216,000 over the year
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National payroll employment report, September 2026
Local Economic Conditions
Missouri unemployment fell to 3.2% in September, lowest since January 2000
Missouri Department of Economic Development / BLS — State labor market release, September 2026
Missouri job postings fell 11.7% year-over-year in July 2026
Missouri labor market research notes — Job postings comparison, July 2026 vs. 2025
Looking Ahead
Heavy truck driver postings up 104% year-over-year in Missouri amid broader posting decline
Missouri labor market research notes — Occupational posting trends, 2026
Missouri's natural population growth negative, 60% of gains from international migration
Missouri Department of Economic Development (MERIC) — Demographic and population trend analysis, 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