Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Richmond, VA 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
Virginia labor force participation rate at 62.8%, a 10-year low
Virginia Employment Commission — August 2026 Virginia Jobs Day Report
This Month's Takeaways
Virginia's labor force declined by about 68,000 people since early 2025
Virginia Employment Commission — Virginia labor force data, cited in Jobs Day Report
Local Economic Conditions
Richmond MSA unemployment rose to 3.8% in June 2026, up 0.4 points year-over-year
Bureau of Labor Statistics — Metro area employment and unemployment statistics
Richmond MSA averaged 167 jobs gained monthly in 2026 vs 342 in 2025
Bureau of Labor Statistics — Current Employment Statistics, Richmond MSA
Looking Ahead
Virginia WARN notices totaled 1,717 workers over trailing 90 days
Virginia Employment Commission WARN Notice Database — State WARN Act filings, September 2026
National wage growth fell to 3.0% annual, below 3.4% inflation
Bureau of Labor Statistics — September 2026 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