Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Salem, OR 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
Marion County unemployment rate at 5.3% in July 2026
Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) — County-level unemployment series
This Month's Takeaways
Marion County wages rose 6.0% year-over-year, highest among OR's large counties
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — County wage data, Q3 2025
Oregon employers reported 45,378 job vacancies in spring 2026, 61% hard to fill
Salem Business Journal — Oregon vacancy survey reporting
Local Economic Conditions
Salem payroll employment rose 2.4% year-over-year through June 2026
Salem Business Journal — Reporting on Salem MSA employment data
Looking Ahead
National nonfarm payrolls added 29,000 jobs in September, below 12-month average
Bureau of Labor Statistics — September 2026 jobs report
National wage growth fell to 3.0% annual, inflation at 3.4%
Bureau of Labor Statistics — September 2026 average hourly earnings data
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