{"schema_version": 1, "id": "pascagoula-ms-msa/life-sciences/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 322, "label": "Pascagoula, MS MSA", "slug": "pascagoula-ms-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "life_sciences", "slug": "life-sciences", "label": "Life Sciences"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T04:34:29.863340+00:00", "headline": "Pascagoula regulatory and CRA pay climbs against a thin talent base.", "headline_summary": "Regulatory Affairs Specialist pay in Pascagoula has reached $111,675 \u2014 above the $103,780 national median \u2014 while Mississippi's labor force participation has dropped to 54.7%, the second-lowest in the nation.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Jackson County unemployment", "value": "3.5%", "context": "July 2026, down 0.6 pts year-over-year"}, {"label": "MS labor force participation", "value": "54.7%", "context": "Second-lowest in U.S., down from 55.7% YoY"}, {"label": "Regulatory Affairs advertised pay (metro)", "value": "$111,675", "context": "vs $103,780 national, trend up significant"}, {"label": "CRA advertised pay (metro)", "value": "$73,374", "context": "vs $90,065 national, both trending up significant"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Regulatory affairs pay is outrunning the national market here.", "body": "Metro advertised pay for Regulatory Affairs Specialists sits at $111,675 against a declining national median of $103,780 \u2014 a local premium that is consistent with scarce compliance talent in a metro with virtually no life sci employment cluster. Leaders benchmarking this role locally should expect to pay above national rates."}, {"headline": "Lab Technician pay is falling even as the role stays hard to staff.", "body": "Metro Lab Technician advertised pay dropped moderately to $40,421, well under the $47,840 national median, while Mississippi's technician wages statewide average under $40,000 a year. Lower pay combined with shrinking labor force participation may signal a deepening pipeline problem alongside steady demand."}, {"headline": "CRA wage growth confirms the CRO decision involves more than cost.", "body": "Clinical Research Associate advertised pay rose significantly both locally ($73,374) and nationally ($90,065), tracking national intelligence that experienced CRAs are the binding constraint on clinical operations capacity. In a metro with no established clinical research base, outsourcing may offer the most reliable access point to this talent."}, {"headline": "Shipbuilding sets the local wage floor life sci employers compete against.", "body": "Pipe welders at Ingalls Shipbuilding earn $35-$40 an hour plus overtime, and Jackson County's average weekly wage sits at $1,278 \u2014 figures any life sci manufacturing or quality operation entering this metro must clear to attract technician and skilled-trade talent. Compensation benchmarking here needs a shipbuilding-adjusted lens tailored to local conditions."}], "local_conditions": "Jackson County's unemployment rate held near 3.5% in July 2026 and the broader Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula MSA sits around 3.6%, reflecting a labor market anchored by shipbuilding demand at Ingalls Shipbuilding and Bollinger, with no life sciences employment base of scale. Mississippi's statewide labor force participation has fallen to 54.7% \u2014 the second-lowest in the nation \u2014 which constrains the pool of credentialed scientific and clinical talent available to any life sci employer operating or recruiting in this metro.", "implications": "Pascagoula's regulatory affairs advertised pay has climbed to $111,675, outpacing the national median of $103,780, which suggests local employers are bidding aggressively for compliance talent against a shallow labor pool. Clinical Research Associate pay is up significantly both locally ($73,374) and nationally ($90,065), reinforcing national intelligence that experienced CRAs remain the binding constraint on clinical operations headcount \u2014 a dynamic that directly affects build-versus-outsource math with CROs in a metro with no meaningful clinical talent base of its own. Organizations should evaluate whether CRO and CDMO partnerships offer more reliable access to CRA and CMC-adjacent talent than local direct hiring, given Mississippi's shrinking labor force participation and the shipbuilding sector's dominance over the region's skilled labor supply.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Expected", "body": "Mississippi's economists project just 0.3% job growth statewide in 2026 under a 'low-hire, low-fire' posture tied to policy uncertainty and tariffs. Life sci employers planning any Gulf Coast footprint should expect headcount approvals to move slowly and competing offers from manufacturing to stay firm."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Labor force participation in Mississippi has fallen to a multi-year low of 54.7%, the second-lowest in the country. Watch whether this further tightens the technician and lab support pipeline available to any employer building bench strength in Jackson County."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "National CRA and regulatory affairs vacancy rates remain elevated, with lab and R&D vacancy at 23.2% across major U.S. life sci markets in Q1 2026. A metro this thin on existing clinical infrastructure will likely feel that national bottleneck more acutely if any new site or trial activity is announced."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Mississippi's WARN filings in 2026 remain concentrated in manufacturing, with 8 of 12 notices tied to factory activity. A shift toward healthcare or professional services layoffs would be an early signal of changing local talent availability for life sci-adjacent roles."}], "roles": [{"role": "Research Scientist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 109700.0, "metro_p50": 115593.6, "metro_p75": 117067.0, "metro_trend_direction": null, "metro_trend_magnitude": null, "national_p50": 130339.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Clinical Research Associate", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 51292.0, "metro_p50": 73374.2, "metro_p75": 106523.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 90065.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Lab Technician", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 39520.0, "metro_p50": 40420.6, "metro_p75": 46105.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 47840.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Regulatory Affairs Specialist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 72216.0, "metro_p50": 111675.0, "metro_p75": 111675.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 103779.6, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Clinical Data Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 61670.0, "metro_p50": 107751.0, "metro_p75": 107751.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 123653.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Biostatistician", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 71759.0, "metro_p50": 101619.0, "metro_p75": 144086.25, "metro_trend_direction": null, "metro_trend_magnitude": null, "national_p50": 131958.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Validation Engineer", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 86084.0, "metro_p50": 86084.0, "metro_p75": 86084.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 106478.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "USA Facts / Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "Jackson County unemployment rate at 3.5% in July 2026"}, {"source_name": "Mississippi Department of Employment Security / BLS", "source_url": null, "statement": "Mississippi labor force participation at 54.7%, second-lowest nationally"}, {"source_name": "Life sciences industry labor market research", "source_url": null, "statement": "Lab/R&D vacancy reached 23.2% across top 13 U.S. life sciences markets Q1 2026"}, {"source_name": "Alliance Mechanical Solutions", "source_url": null, "statement": "Pipe welders in Pascagoula earn $35-$40/hour plus overtime"}, {"source_name": "Mississippi state economist Corey Miller", "source_url": null, "statement": "Mississippi 2026 job growth projected at 0.3% amid low-hire, low-fire environment"}, {"source_name": "Mississippi WARN Act tracker", "source_url": null, "statement": "12 WARN notices filed in Mississippi in 2026, 8 in manufacturing"}], "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": "pascagoula-ms-msa/life-sciences/2026-10.html", "pdf": "pascagoula-ms-msa/life-sciences/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:28:06.029482+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/pascagoula-ms-msa/life-sciences/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/pascagoula-ms-msa/life-sciences/2026-10.pdf"}