Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA 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
This Month's Takeaways
California unemployment rate at 5.1%, highest among states
California Employment Development Department / UCLA Anderson Forecast — State labor market data, August 2026
San Diego minimum wage rising to $18.35 January 2027
Hoodline — City minimum wage ordinance update
Hospitality minimum wage set at $19.00 effective July 2026
Hoodline/KPBS — San Diego Hospitality Minimum Wage Ordinance
Local Economic Conditions
San Diego metro unemployment rate at 4.7%
Bureau of Labor Statistics — Metro-level unemployment estimate, July 2026 preliminary
94% of San Diego contractors struggle to fill openings
Pacific Beach Builder — 2026 construction labor shortage report
Looking Ahead
National wage growth at 3.0% vs 3.4% inflation
Bureau of Labor Statistics — 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