{"schema_version": 1, "id": "monroe-la-msa/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 343, "label": "Monroe, LA MSA", "slug": "monroe-la-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:22:55.090201+00:00", "headline": "Monroe IT pay splits: engineering falls, security and support climb.", "headline_summary": "Metro Network Engineer pay fell to $80,176 against a national rise to $115,757, while local Cybersecurity Analyst pay climbed to $105,205 \u2014 a divergence that should shape where IT leaders defend headcount versus outsource.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Monroe nonfarm employment", "value": "92,900", "context": "down 200 jobs month-over-month, Sept. 2026"}, {"label": "Network Engineer advertised pay (metro)", "value": "$80,176", "context": "vs. $115,757 national median, up moderately"}, {"label": "Ouachita Parish unemployment", "value": "4.8%", "context": "vs. 4.0% statewide, 4.1% national"}, {"label": "Louisiana quits vs. layoffs", "value": "43,000 vs 22,000", "context": "Oct. 2025 state data, signals high churn risk"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Network and software engineering pay is falling against the national grain.", "body": "Metro Network Engineer pay dropped significantly to $80,176 against a national climb to $115,757, and Software Engineer pay fell to $59,452 versus a stable $154,403 nationally. That gap suggests local demand for these roles is softening even as national competition intensifies, widening the case for remote or hybrid sourcing of engineering talent over local build-out."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity and help desk pay are moving in opposite directions from the rest of IT.", "body": "Cybersecurity Analyst pay rose to $105,205 and Help Desk pay rose significantly to $44,524 even as engineering roles declined \u2014 a pattern consistent with employers protecting roles tied to compliance exposure and frontline continuity first. Current conditions suggest these two functions carry the most retention risk in the metro right now."}, {"headline": "Statewide churn data points to poaching risk in support tiers.", "body": "Louisiana recorded roughly 43,000 quits against 22,000 layoffs in the most recent state data, and the 56% gap between IT Technician pay ($41,044) and general IT roles ($93,813) creates a clear incentive for technicians to jump employers for broader titles. Organizations should evaluate whether technician-tier pay bands are keeping pace closely enough to avoid losing entry-to-mid support staff to competitors or to Louisiana's tighter construction and manufacturing labor market."}, {"headline": "Metro job growth is flat while the state races ahead on construction.", "body": "Monroe shed 200 nonfarm jobs month-over-month in September even as Louisiana added 36,000 jobs statewide, more than half in construction. A metro lagging the state's momentum may mean less wage competition for IT talent locally in the near term, but also fewer signals of employer investment that typically precede IT headcount growth."}], "local_conditions": "Monroe MSA nonfarm employment slipped to 92,900 in September, down 200 jobs month-over-month, even as Ouachita Parish unemployment held near 4.8% \u2014 a signal of a metro treading water while Louisiana's statewide job growth outpaces the nation on construction strength. Local IT demand reflects this split screen: advertised pay for Network Engineer and Software Engineer roles fell sharply against rising national medians, while Cybersecurity Analyst and Help Desk pay climbed, consistent with employers protecting security and frontline support capacity even as broader technical hiring cools.", "implications": "Divergence between falling local Network Engineer and Software Engineer pay and rising national medians for those same roles suggests Monroe employers face less competitive pressure to bid up infrastructure and development talent than peer metros \u2014 but the inverse pattern in Cybersecurity Analyst and Help Desk pay points to acute local scarcity in roles that can't be deferred or offshored. With statewide quits data showing significant churn (43,000 quits vs. 22,000 layoffs in Louisiana in October 2025) alongside a 56% pay gap between IT Technician and general IT salaries, the economics continue to favor outsourcing commodity support work while building locally only where retention risk is highest. Consider reviewing whether current build-vs-buy splits for infrastructure and support functions still match where local advertised pay is moving now, versus where it stood a year ago.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Worth watching", "body": "October 2026 BLS data for Monroe has not yet published; watch whether September's 200-job decline extends or reverses once the next Louisiana Workforce release lands in late November. A second consecutive monthly decline would strengthen the case for delaying discretionary IT hires tied to broader metro growth assumptions."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "National tech layoffs have already surpassed 133,000 workers through October, well ahead of all of 2025. Watch whether any of that displaced talent \u2014 particularly in cloud, security, or AI-adjacent roles \u2014 begins surfacing in the Monroe candidate pool via remote applications, which could ease scarcity in roles currently commanding premium local pay."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Local Help Desk and Cybersecurity pay rose this month while engineering pay fell \u2014 a pattern worth tracking for another cycle before treating it as durable. If it holds through November, it would reinforce prioritizing retention budgets toward frontline and compliance-exposed roles over infrastructure build-out."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National AI-related job postings now account for 7.3% of all postings, more than double the 2022 peak, while mid-level AI engineers see 9.2% salary growth. Monroe employers evaluating build-vs-buy for AI-adjacent infrastructure should watch whether that national premium begins pulling local architecture and platform talent toward remote opportunities."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 119451.0, "metro_p50": 151577.0, "metro_p75": 164187.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 145881.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 76914.0, "metro_p50": 95571.6, "metro_p75": 105683.5, "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": "metro", "metro_p25": 53351.25, "metro_p50": 80176.0, "metro_p75": 89254.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 115757.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 59452.0, "metro_p50": 59452.0, "metro_p75": 59453.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 39450.0, "metro_p50": 44524.4, "metro_p75": 50560.75, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 53129.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 87087.0, "metro_p50": 105205.0, "metro_p75": 125425.0, "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": 79462.0, "metro_p50": 114290.0, "metro_p75": 125776.0, "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": "Louisiana Workforce Commission", "source_url": null, "statement": "Monroe MSA nonfarm employment at 92,900, down 200 jobs month-over-month in September 2026"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": "https://www.bls.gov", "statement": "Ouachita Parish unemployment rate at 4.8% as of June 2026"}, {"source_name": "Louisiana Workforce Commission", "source_url": null, "statement": "Louisiana recorded ~43,000 quits vs. 22,000 layoffs in October 2025"}, {"source_name": "ZipRecruiter", "source_url": null, "statement": "IT Technician average salary $41,044 vs. general IT roles $93,813"}, {"source_name": "Layoffs.fyi / Industry tracking", "source_url": null, "statement": "133,417 tech employees laid off at 325 companies through Oct. 21, 2026"}, {"source_name": "Indeed Hiring Lab", "source_url": null, "statement": "AI-related job postings reached 7.3% of all postings, above 2022 peak of 3.3%"}], "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": "monroe-la-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "monroe-la-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:26:24.038063+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/monroe-la-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/monroe-la-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}