Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Napa, 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
California unemployment rate of 5.1% was highest among U.S. states in August
UCLA Anderson Forecast / BLS — State unemployment ranking commentary
This Month's Takeaways
National wage growth slowed to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation in September 2026
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National average hourly earnings and CPI comparison
Local Economic Conditions
Napa County unemployment rose to 4.3% in August 2026 from 4.2% in July
Napa Valley Register / EDD — County unemployment rate reporting citing state EDD data
Napa sector job gains/losses by industry over the year
California Employment Development Department — Metro-level industry employment change data
Open Threads in the Data
Napa labor force and employed residents both declined in August 2026
EDD / Napa Valley Register — Household survey data on labor force participation
Looking Ahead
California minimum wage increases to $17.40 per hour effective January 1, 2027
California Department of Industrial Relations — State minimum wage schedule announcement
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