Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Owensboro, KY 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
Kentucky unemployment rate unchanged at 4.7% in August 2026
Kentucky Center for Statistics — State labor force and unemployment data
National wage growth at 3.0% vs 3.4% inflation, September 2026
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National wage and inflation comparison
Local Economic Conditions
Daviess County unemployment rate was 3% in July 2026
WWBL / Kentucky Center for Statistics — County-level unemployment report
Owensboro MSA mean hourly wage of $26.03 vs national $33.54
Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
Looking Ahead
Kentucky labor force grew for third consecutive month in August
UK Center for Business and Economic Research — Commentary from Mike Clark on labor force trends
National payroll employment added 29,000 jobs in September 2026
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National employment situation report
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