Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Reading, PA 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
Reading City unemployment at 6.0% vs township rates of 3.3-3.4%
PA Department of Labor & Industry — Sub-county unemployment comparison
This Month's Takeaways
Manufacturing accounts for 17.8% of Berks County employment
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — County industry employment share data
Local Economic Conditions
Reading MSA unemployment rate at 4.1% seasonally adjusted, July 2026
Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry / BLS LAUS — Most recent available metro unemployment data
Berks County average weekly wages reached $1,315 in Q4 2025, up 4.9% YoY
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — County Employment and Wages (QCEW) data
Looking Ahead
National wage growth fell to 3.0% annual increase, below 3.4% inflation
Bureau of Labor Statistics — September 2026 employment situation report
PA House passed H.B. 2189 minimum wage increase; Senate has not acted
Pennsylvania House of Representatives — State legislative tracking on minimum wage bill
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