Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Raleigh-Cary, NC 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
National nonfarm payrolls added 29,000 jobs in September 2026
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National employment situation report, September 2026
This Month's Takeaways
North Carolina added 10,000 jobs in August, ranked 5th nationally in 12-month gains
NC Department of Commerce — State nonfarm payroll employment data, August 2026
National wage growth at 3.0% against 3.4% inflation, eroding real wages
Bureau of Labor Statistics — Average hourly earnings and CPI data, September 2026
NC WARN notices concentrated in manufacturing (34 notices, 3,444 workers)
NC Department of Commerce WARN Reports — 2026 year-to-date WARN notice filings by industry
Local Economic Conditions
Raleigh tied for lowest metro unemployment rate in NC at 3.1% in August 2026
NC Department of Commerce — August 2026 metro-area unemployment data
NC labor force participation fell to 57.8%, down 1.6 points year-over-year
NC Department of Commerce / BLS — State labor force participation data, August 2026
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