{"schema_version": 1, "id": "seattle-tacoma-bellevue-wa-msa/metro-job-market/2026-10", "product": "Metro Job Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 463, "label": "Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA MSA", "slug": "seattle-tacoma-bellevue-wa-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "general_conditions", "slug": "metro-job-market", "label": "General Market Conditions"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T08:01:51.983864+00:00", "headline": "Seattle's falling jobless rate hides a shrinking labor force.", "headline_summary": "King County unemployment eased to 4.7-4.8% even as Washington shed 15,400 jobs statewide in September and Seattle's job postings index of 67 lags most major U.S. metros.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Seattle metro unemployment rate", "value": "4.8%", "context": "vs. 4.1% national rate, Sept. 2026"}, {"label": "Washington state job change", "value": "-15,400", "context": "Seasonally adjusted, September 2026"}, {"label": "King County WARN-covered workers", "value": "6,912", "context": "Year-to-date through October 2026"}, {"label": "Seattle Job Postings Index", "value": "67", "context": "Among lowest of major U.S. metros (Indeed)"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Falling unemployment is masking labor-force exit.", "body": "King County's rate dropped to 4.7-4.8% even as the labor force contracted and Washington shed 15,400 jobs statewide in September. A declining rate driven by fewer job-seekers is a weaker signal than it first appears for regional economic momentum."}, {"headline": "Tech contraction is broad-based but not metro-defining.", "body": "Oracle (359), Amazon (121), Salesforce (59), Zillow (91) and more than a dozen other named employers have filed layoffs in 2026, pushing King County WARN notices to 6,912 workers. Yet Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta still rank among the region's largest advertisers for talent, measured by job ads, which track demand and often cover several openings each, indicating selective repositioning within firms instead of a region-wide retreat from the sector."}, {"headline": "Healthcare and skilled trades show the clearest wage momentum.", "body": "Registered Nurse advertised pay rose to a metro median of $117,994 and Electrician pay climbed to $88,400, both outpacing national medians by wide margins. These gains point to where local labor demand remains tight despite softness in tech and white-collar sectors."}, {"headline": "Public-sector job losses deserve closer tracking than tech headlines suggest.", "body": "Washington's September job losses were driven more by government and private education/health services employment than by the widely covered tech layoffs. Public-sector stability is typically a steadying force in regional downturns, so a pullback there carries distinct implications for local fiscal planning and service delivery."}], "local_conditions": "Seattle metro unemployment held at 4.8% in September, now tracking above the national rate of 4.1% for the thirteenth straight month, a reversal of the region's historic pattern of outperforming the U.S. average. The decline in local joblessness has coincided with 18,000 jobs lost in Seattle proper since 2024 and a tech-sector layoff count that has already exceeded all of 2024 and 2025 combined, suggesting the improving rate reflects workers leaving the labor force as much as new job creation.", "implications": "Falling unemployment paired with job losses is an unusual combination that complicates a straightforward reading of local economic health \u2014 commerce leaders weighing expansion or investment decisions should look past the headline rate toward labor-force participation and sector-specific postings data. Healthcare's continued strength (34,635 King County job openings in August, up 4.0% month-over-month) alongside tech contraction points to a metro economy rebalancing across sectors instead of contracting uniformly. Current conditions suggest monitoring sector-level job ad volume (job ads signal hiring demand; one ad often covers several openings) alongside WARN filings before drawing conclusions about overall local business climate from the unemployment rate alone.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Seattle's Indeed Job Postings Index sits at 67, among the lowest of any major metro nationally. Watch whether this gap to the national trend (Job Postings Index 103.8, up 2.8% year-over-year) narrows or widens over the next two months as a read on whether local demand is stabilizing or falling further behind."}, {"category": "Data quality concern", "body": "The Seattle-King County Workforce Development Council flagged inflated job posting counts from 'ghost jobs' in late October. Commerce leaders and economists citing local job-ad volume as a demand signal should discount raw counts accordingly, since postings track hiring demand and may not translate to actual openings."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Gebbers Farms' 3,445-worker WARN notice in Brewster (effective Nov. 25) is the largest in the state and lands outside the metro core, but will influence statewide labor-force and participation figures that frame Seattle's relative position. Track whether it shifts the narrative on agricultural and seasonal labor availability heading into winter reporting."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Washington's minimum wage rises to $17.73/hour on January 1, 2027, a 3.5% increase. Retail, hospitality and food-service employers in the metro, where advertised pay for frontline roles has been largely flat this month, may see compressed wage differentials as the floor rises faster than posted rates for adjacent roles."}], "roles": [{"role": "Retail Sales Associate", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 36046.0, "metro_p50": 42120.0, "metro_p75": 45760.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 33340.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Retail Cashier", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 35630.0, "metro_p50": 39520.0, "metro_p75": 44408.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 31268.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 38480.0, "metro_p50": 45240.0, "metro_p75": 47840.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 38480.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "CDL Truck Driver", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 60060.0, "metro_p50": 74565.0, "metro_p75": 82060.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 78872.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Delivery Driver", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 36364.5, "metro_p50": 47500.0, "metro_p75": 53500.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 34826.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Construction Laborer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 41381.0, "metro_p50": 50960.0, "metro_p75": 52116.25, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 40726.6, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Electrician", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 69519.5, "metro_p50": 88400.0, "metro_p75": 98800.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 71835.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 38841.0, "metro_p50": 46618.4, "metro_p75": 52000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 39520.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Customer Service Representative", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 38925.0, "metro_p50": 45032.0, "metro_p75": 48500.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 39520.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Food Service Worker", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 36008.0, "metro_p50": 45045.2, "metro_p75": 48100.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 33764.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 45344.0, "metro_p50": 50960.0, "metro_p75": 53497.75, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 41600.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 41579.0, "metro_p50": 53040.0, "metro_p75": 57867.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 44552.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "HVAC Technician", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 67393.0, "metro_p50": 81120.0, "metro_p75": 93500.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 71406.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Registered Nurse", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 98857.0, "metro_p50": 117994.0, "metro_p75": 128754.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 102252.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 135000.0, "metro_p50": 177250.0, "metro_p75": 193300.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Data Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 99166.25, "metro_p50": 145246.6, "metro_p75": 158888.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 138000.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Accountant", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 62400.0, "metro_p50": 76850.0, "metro_p75": 85011.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 72000.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Financial Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 86941.5, "metro_p50": 101794.0, "metro_p75": 110950.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 94646.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "HR Generalist/Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 63202.25, "metro_p50": 84167.0, "metro_p75": 90785.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 74477.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Marketing Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 46544.0, "metro_p50": 65000.0, "metro_p75": 77500.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 62916.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Operations Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 83986.0, "metro_p50": 100600.0, "metro_p75": 111959.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 86294.2, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Elementary/Secondary School Teacher", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 45760.0, "metro_p50": 61723.0, "metro_p75": 71228.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 55908.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Account Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 70000.0, "metro_p50": 104563.2, "metro_p75": 131000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 94009.4, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Warehouse Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 62400.0, "metro_p50": 76250.0, "metro_p75": 80000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 75000.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Business Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 84016.0, "metro_p50": 102500.0, "metro_p75": 114171.5, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 98302.2, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [{"sector": "Construction", "median_pay": 81000.0, "pay_trend_direction": "up", "pay_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "postings_trend_direction": "down", "postings_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"sector": "Manufacturing", "median_pay": 116480.0, "pay_trend_direction": "up", "pay_trend_magnitude": "significant", "postings_trend_direction": "down", "postings_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"sector": "Retail Trade", "median_pay": 69012.0, "pay_trend_direction": "up", "pay_trend_magnitude": "significant", "postings_trend_direction": "up", "postings_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"sector": "Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities", "median_pay": 69091.0, "pay_trend_direction": "down", "pay_trend_magnitude": "significant", "postings_trend_direction": "down", "postings_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"sector": "Information", "median_pay": 152540.0, "pay_trend_direction": "up", "pay_trend_magnitude": "significant", "postings_trend_direction": "down", "postings_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"sector": "Financial Activities", "median_pay": 88739.0, "pay_trend_direction": "down", "pay_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "postings_trend_direction": "down", "postings_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"sector": "Professional & Business Services", "median_pay": 123984.0, "pay_trend_direction": "down", "pay_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "postings_trend_direction": "down", "postings_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"sector": "Education & Health Services", "median_pay": 77116.0, "pay_trend_direction": "up", "pay_trend_magnitude": "significant", "postings_trend_direction": "down", "postings_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"sector": "Leisure & Hospitality", "median_pay": 44720.0, "pay_trend_direction": "stable", "pay_trend_magnitude": "stable", "postings_trend_direction": "stable", "postings_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"sector": "Government", "median_pay": 76353.0, "pay_trend_direction": "up", "pay_trend_magnitude": "significant", "postings_trend_direction": "down", "postings_trend_magnitude": "significant"}], "citations": [], "methodology": "Advertised pay from active employer job postings, not survey data. WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings: distribution analysis shows roughly the lowest 10% of raw values are erroneous entries, so the reported median is the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay.", "edition_label": "November 2026", "files": {"html": "seattle-tacoma-bellevue-wa-msa/metro-job-market/2026-10.html", "pdf": "seattle-tacoma-bellevue-wa-msa/metro-job-market/2026-10.pdf", "sources_html": "seattle-tacoma-bellevue-wa-msa/metro-job-market/2026-10.sources.html"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:30:08.404060+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/seattle-tacoma-bellevue-wa-msa/metro-job-market/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/seattle-tacoma-bellevue-wa-msa/metro-job-market/2026-10.pdf"}