{"schema_version": 1, "id": "myrtle-beach-conway-north-myrtle-beach-sc-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-08", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 358, "label": "Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC MSA", "slug": "myrtle-beach-conway-north-myrtle-beach-sc-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "restaurant_industry", "slug": "restaurant-industry", "label": "Restaurant Industry"}, "period": "2026-08", "public_after": "2026-08-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T16:30:20.861500+00:00", "headline": "Myrtle Beach wage restraint meets a looming $17 minimum wage threat.", "headline_summary": "Horry County's $974 average weekly wage trails every large SC county, but proposed state legislation targeting a $17.00 minimum wage by January 2027 could erase that cost advantage entirely.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Horry County avg weekly wage", "value": "$974", "context": "Lowest among SC's 7 large counties, Q1 2026"}, {"label": "Horry County unemployment (Jan, NSA)", "value": "7.0%", "context": "Up 1.5 pts from Jan 2025, seasonal swing"}, {"label": "Proposed SC minimum wage (SB 3809)", "value": "$17.00/hr", "context": "vs current $7.25 federal floor, eff. Jan 2027"}, {"label": "Metro employment growth", "value": "2.4% YoY", "context": "159,700 jobs as of June 2026"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Server pay is rising while the rest of the roster holds flat.", "body": "Metro Server advertised pay moved up moderately to $32,086 even as Shift Manager and Assistant Manager pay both softened. Consistent with operators shifting retention dollars toward guest-facing roles most exposed to tip-credit debate and traffic sensitivity."}, {"headline": "Horry County's wage floor keeps labor cost ratios manageable \u2014 for now.", "body": "At $974 average weekly wage, the county trails every other large South Carolina county, giving restaurant operators more cushion on labor-cost-to-revenue than Charleston-area peers. That advantage erodes if SC Bill 3809's proposed $17.00 state minimum advances toward its January 2027 target."}, {"headline": "Management pay is softening just as national hiring accelerates.", "body": "Restaurant Manager/GM pay held stable locally but Assistant Manager and Shift Manager both moved down in a month when national restaurant payrolls posted their largest single-month gain since January 2023. May suggest local operators are filling supervisory roles from a deeper, more available candidate pool rather than competing on pay."}, {"headline": "Seasonal volatility, not a cooling market, explains the unemployment jump.", "body": "Horry County's unemployment rate climbed 1.5 points to 7.0% in January even as metro-wide employment grew 2.4% year over year through June. Seasonal staffing plans should be built around this swing, not read as a signal of broader demand weakness."}], "local_conditions": "Myrtle Beach metro employment reached 159,700 in June 2026, up 2.4% year over year, even as Horry County's unweighted January unemployment rate jumped to 7.0% \u2014 a gap that signals seasonal tourism-driven volatility rather than genuine slack easing. Horry County's average weekly wage of $974 in Q1 2026 remained the lowest among South Carolina's seven large counties, keeping restaurant labor cost pressure comparatively contained even as national restaurant payrolls posted their largest one-month gain since January 2023.", "implications": "Local wage restraint gives Myrtle Beach operators more room on labor-cost-to-revenue ratios than peers in Charleston or coastal metros with double-digit compensation growth, but that cushion narrows fast heading into shoulder-season staffing decisions given the county's sharp seasonal unemployment swing. Server pay moving up locally while most other front-of-house and back-of-house roles hold flat suggests operators are already triaging retention spend toward the roles most exposed to tip-credit and minimum-wage scrutiny. Consider reviewing tipped-wage structures now, ahead of any state action on SC Bill 3809, rather than waiting for a mandated floor to force a compensation redesign under time pressure.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Policy watch", "body": "SC Bill 3809 proposes a $17.00 state minimum wage effective January 2027 \u2014 a dramatic shift from South Carolina's current status as one of five states without a state minimum. Restaurant operators should model labor cost scenarios now given the scale of change relative to current tipped and non-tipped baselines."}, {"category": "Expected", "body": "Florida's minimum wage reaches $15.00 on September 30, 2026, tightening the regional pay comparison set for Myrtle Beach operators competing for coastal tourism labor. Watch whether Grand Strand employers face upward pressure on entry-level FOH pay as workers benchmark against neighboring state rates."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "National job openings in food service fell 27% from January to July 2026 and quits declined in parallel, suggesting easing turnover costs industry-wide. Confirm whether this national retention stabilization is showing up locally before scaling back retention-focused pay premiums."}, {"category": "Seasonal inflection", "body": "Metro leisure and hospitality employment growth of 0.9% month-over-month reflects peak-season staffing build. Watch September-October payroll data closely for the pace of seasonal drawdown, which will shape shoulder-season scheduling and part-time wage decisions."}], "roles": [{"role": "Assistant Restaurant Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 26740.0, "metro_p50": 37178.0, "metro_p75": 40000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 39000.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Catering Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 35360.0, "metro_p50": 48561.4, "metro_p75": 55015.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 51585.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Crew", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 23818.0, "metro_p50": 27040.0, "metro_p75": 29120.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 29791.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Line Cook", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 29120.0, "metro_p50": 34320.0, "metro_p75": 35360.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 36702.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Restaurant Manager/General Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 46825.75, "metro_p50": 58854.0, "metro_p75": 64284.75, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 59762.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Server", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 27045.0, "metro_p50": 32086.2, "metro_p75": 34732.5, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 34915.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Shift Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 26434.0, "metro_p50": 29065.2, "metro_p75": 31297.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 32649.0, "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": "myrtle-beach-conway-north-myrtle-beach-sc-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-08.html", "pdf": "myrtle-beach-conway-north-myrtle-beach-sc-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-08.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T16:35:01.460052+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/myrtle-beach-conway-north-myrtle-beach-sc-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-08.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/myrtle-beach-conway-north-myrtle-beach-sc-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-08.pdf"}