{"schema_version": 1, "id": "oshkosh-neenah-wi-msa/finance/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 383, "label": "Oshkosh-Neenah, WI MSA", "slug": "oshkosh-neenah-wi-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "finance", "slug": "finance", "label": "Finance"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T05:45:43.610747+00:00", "headline": "Oshkosh finance pay climbs as headcount quietly contracts.", "headline_summary": "Winnebago County employment fell 0.9% year-over-year even as Financial Analyst pay rose to $80,904 and county wages posted the state's steepest Q4 gain at 7.1%.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Winnebago County unemployment", "value": "3.3%", "context": "Up from year-ago, still below 4.2% national rate"}, {"label": "County employment change", "value": "-0.9%", "context": "Year-over-year, Q1 2026, despite wage gains"}, {"label": "Winnebago wage growth", "value": "+7.1%", "context": "Q4 2025, largest gain of any WI county"}, {"label": "CFO turnover rate, national", "value": "18.3%", "context": "Highest since pandemic (Crist|Kolder)"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Financial Analyst pay is closing the gap with national rates.", "body": "Metro median climbed to $80,904, a significant increase that narrows the historical discount to the $94,646 national figure. Finance leaders benchmarking analyst roles against last year's local data risk under-offering in a market where this gap is closing fast."}, {"headline": "Transactional finance pay is eroding while analytical roles gain.", "body": "Billing Specialist and Tax Specialist advertised pay both fell significantly in the metro even as national figures held stable or rose, while Financial Analyst and FP&A Manager pay moved up. Budget reallocation toward analytical capability appears underway locally, worth testing against actual hiring plans."}, {"headline": "County headcount contraction coexists with wage pressure.", "body": "Winnebago County employment declined 0.9% year-over-year even as Q4 2025 wage gains hit +7.1%, the state's largest. Employers appear to be doing more with fewer people and paying a premium to retain the skills that remain, a dynamic Finance leaders should expect to persist into 2027 budget cycles."}, {"headline": "CFO turnover nationally raises local succession stakes.", "body": "CFO turnover is projected at 18.3% for 2026, the highest since the pandemic, with external hiring filling 37.5% of vacancies. In a tight regional talent pool like Oshkosh-Neenah, internal succession planning for controller and FP&A leadership may carry more weight than external search readiness."}], "local_conditions": "Winnebago County unemployment edged up to 3.3% in August \u2014 still well below the national 4.2% rate \u2014 even as county employment fell 0.9% year-over-year through Q1 2026, a combination consistent with employers trimming headcount while struggling to fill skilled positions. Wisconsin's manufacturing base, a core driver of the Oshkosh-Neenah economy through employers like Amcor and Alliance Laundry Systems, remains 4% below pre-pandemic job levels, and that erosion is showing up locally as wage pressure concentrates in finance, analytical, and technical roles, with headcount flat or shrinking elsewhere.", "implications": "Metro Financial Analyst pay climbing to a $80,904 median \u2014 a significant year-over-year gain that nearly closes the gap with the $94,646 national figure \u2014 signals employers are bidding aggressively for analytical talent even as overall county payrolls contract, a pattern consistent with national CFO-level reports of finance talent shortages affecting 85% of surveyed organizations. Tax Specialist and Billing Specialist pay falling significantly in the same market where skilled analytical roles are gaining suggests compensation budgets are being reallocated toward FP&A and analytical capability, with transactional finance functions receiving a smaller share. Consider reviewing whether headcount planning for FY2027 reflects this bifurcation \u2014 protecting or growing investment in analyst and FP&A capacity while reassessing whether transactional roles are being captured accurately in local pay data.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Watch whether Winnebago County's Q1 2026 employment decline (-0.9% year-over-year) persists in the next county-level BLS release due in coming weeks. A continued slide alongside rising wages would confirm a skills-constrained labor market extending beyond a one-quarter anomaly."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Wisconsin manufacturing remains 4% below pre-pandemic job levels, and Oshkosh-Neenah's employer base is manufacturing-heavy. Any additional WARN activity in the sector \u2014 statewide filings already cover 3,914 workers in 2026 \u2014 could shift local finance and accounting talent supply quickly."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "National contract finance staffing is rising, with 70% of finance leaders increasing contractor use in H2 2026. Monitor whether local firms begin substituting contract FP&A and analyst talent for FTEs, which would affect fixed-cost headcount forecasts and audit documentation practices."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Employment Cost Index growth of 3.4% nationally, with real compensation costs down 0.4% after inflation, suggests wage growth may be peaking. If that trend reaches Wisconsin's wage data next quarter, Finance leaders may get earlier relief on payroll budget assumptions for 2027."}], "roles": [{"role": "Controller", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 98924.0, "metro_p50": 100000.0, "metro_p75": 110000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 115420.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Senior Accountant", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 72343.0, "metro_p50": 77790.0, "metro_p75": 84888.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 87731.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Financial Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 62856.0, "metro_p50": 80904.4, "metro_p75": 86345.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 94646.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Billing Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 36617.75, "metro_p50": 38765.0, "metro_p75": 43420.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 49000.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Tax Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 42919.0, "metro_p50": 46800.0, "metro_p75": 57200.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 69556.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Credit Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 46461.0, "metro_p50": 61500.0, "metro_p75": 78091.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 71397.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "FP&A Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 100074.0, "metro_p50": 116859.0, "metro_p75": 126976.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 130000.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "USAFacts/BLS", "source_url": null, "statement": "Winnebago County unemployment at 3.3% in August 2026"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "Winnebago County employment declined 0.9% year-over-year, Q1 2026"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "Winnebago County wage gains of +7.1% in Q4 2025, largest in Wisconsin"}, {"source_name": "MAVI", "source_url": null, "statement": "85% of CFOs report finance talent shortages affecting operations"}, {"source_name": "Crist|Kolder Associates", "source_url": null, "statement": "CFO turnover projected at 18.3% in 2026, highest since pandemic"}, {"source_name": "Marquette University / BLS", "source_url": null, "statement": "Wisconsin manufacturing jobs 4% below pre-pandemic levels"}], "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": "oshkosh-neenah-wi-msa/finance/2026-10.html", "pdf": "oshkosh-neenah-wi-msa/finance/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:27:47.055789+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/oshkosh-neenah-wi-msa/finance/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/oshkosh-neenah-wi-msa/finance/2026-10.pdf"}