Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Modesto, CA 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
Modesto MSA civilian labor force and employment levels, August 2026
BLS Western Information Office — Regional labor force data
This Month's Takeaways
Education and Health Services employment up 3.7% year-over-year
Bureau of Labor Statistics — Metro industry employment data
Local Economic Conditions
Modesto MSA unemployment rate at 7.0% in August 2026, flat vs July
California EDD Labor Market Information Division — State labor force statistics release
California statewide unemployment rate at 5.1%, highest in the nation
California EDD / BLS — State and national unemployment comparison
Looking Ahead
California minimum wage rises to $17.40/hour January 1, 2027
State of California — State minimum wage schedule
Major 2026 WARN notices affecting Meta, Amazon, Verizon employees
California EDD WARN Notices — State layoff notice tracking
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