Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Rocky Mount, 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
Local Economic Conditions
Rocky Mount's 9.4% September unemployment rate was highest among NC metros
NC Department of Commerce — Monthly metro-level unemployment comparison, September 2026
Rocky Mount recorded lowest average hourly wage among NC metros at $24.63
NC Department of Commerce Economic Report — Q1 2026 metro wage comparison
Open Threads in the Data
Asheville metro unemployment at 2.7%, lowest in NC
NC Department of Commerce — Metro unemployment comparison, August 2026
Looking Ahead
95 of NC's 100 counties saw unemployment rise in September
NC Department of Commerce — Statewide county-level unemployment data, September 2026
NC WARN notices concentrated in manufacturing with 34 notices, 3,444 workers
NC Department of Commerce — 2026 WARN Act notice tracking by industry
National wage growth fell to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National average hourly earnings and CPI data, September 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