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Labor Market Pulse
Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC Metro Edition
Focus: HR
Myrtle Beach job growth outpaces the state — wage pressure lags beneath it.
4.2%
Metro unemployment rate
Sept 2026, up from 4.1% statewide (BLS)
+29,000 jobs
Metro payroll growth
Year-over-year, outpacing SC average growth
$107,200 metro vs $117,888 national
Benefits Manager pay divergence
Metro down moderately while national rises
4.0%
SC statewide wage growth
To $1,296/week, SC ranks 17th nationally in pace
This Month's Takeaways
Metro job growth is outrunning the state, but unevenly.
29,000 jobs added year-over-year and 2.2% employment growth earlier in 2026 put Myrtle Beach ahead of most SC metros, yet gains remain concentrated in leisure/hospitality — a sector carrying the state's lowest average weekly wage at $514. Compensation strategy built around headline growth numbers risks ignoring where the pay pressure actually sits.
HR Business Partner pay is lagging the national market sharply.
Metro median advertised pay of $75,619 trails the national figure of $83,766 even as both trend upward, a wider gap than most roles in this market show. Employers competing for HRBP talent against remote-eligible national postings may need to close this spread or lean harder on non-cash total rewards.
Benefits Manager pay is falling locally while rising nationally.
Metro median has moved down moderately to $107,200 against a national climb to $117,888, an unusual divergence given rising benefit costs are a near-universal pressure (BLS Employment Cost Index shows benefits up 3.8% year-over-year). Worth checking whether this reflects a thinner local candidate pool accepting lower offers or genuine softening in metro demand for the role.
Recruiter demand is up, but local pay still runs well below national rates.
Metro median advertised pay of $53,544 is rising moderately but sits roughly 21% below the $68,167 national median, consistent with a market where hiring volume is tourism-driven and seasonal rather than corporate and year-round. Expect continued difficulty attracting experienced in-house recruiters without adjusting pay toward national norms.
Local Labor Conditions
Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach MSA unemployment held at 4.2% in September as nonfarm payrolls grew by 29,000 year-over-year, with hiring activity still anchored to a leisure and hospitality sector that outpaced statewide employment growth earlier this year. Seasonal cooling from peak summer tourism staffing, combined with statewide wage growth of 4.0% against a national backdrop of easing hires rates, is producing a labor market that looks tight on headline numbers but is normalizing beneath the surface.
Leadership & Talent Implications
Slower national hiring urgency and a cooling post-summer tourism cycle give Horry County employers room to shift from reactive backfilling toward deliberate workforce planning, particularly in hospitality and retail roles that drove this year's job gains. Pay compression between entry-level and experienced workers statewide — professional/business services averaging $1,523/week versus $514/week in leisure/hospitality — suggests retention risk concentrated at the bottom of the pay scale even as headline wage growth looks healthy. Consider reviewing total rewards structures for hourly and seasonal-adjacent roles now, before the next tourism hiring cycle forces reactive pay adjustments.
