{"schema_version": 1, "id": "sheboygan-wi-msa/human-resources/2026-08", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 488, "label": "Sheboygan, WI MSA", "slug": "sheboygan-wi-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "human_resources", "slug": "human-resources", "label": "Human Resources"}, "period": "2026-08", "public_after": "2026-08-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T16:22:00.644800+00:00", "headline": "Sheboygan's tight labor market stalls \u2014 and recruiting pay is falling anyway.", "headline_summary": "Sheboygan MSA unemployment held at 2.9% in August while local Recruiter pay dropped to $54,658 even as the national median climbed to $67,643, a divergence that could constrain sourcing capacity just as manufacturing talent stays scarce.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Sheboygan MSA unemployment", "value": "2.9%", "context": "Flat vs July, up from 2.8% year ago"}, {"label": "Metro average hourly wage", "value": "$30.79", "context": "vs $33.54 national average (May 2025)"}, {"label": "Recruiter advertised pay, metro", "value": "$54,658", "context": "Down significantly vs $67,643 national median"}, {"label": "Sheboygan avg weekly wage rank", "value": "$1,230", "context": "Highest among WI's 65 smaller counties, Q3 2025"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Sheboygan's labor market has plateaued, not loosened.", "body": "Unemployment sits at 2.9%, essentially flat versus July and only marginally above last August, meaning employers should not expect meaningful easing in candidate availability through year-end. Retention investment likely delivers more value than waiting for supply relief."}, {"headline": "Recruiter pay is falling locally while rising nationally \u2014 a warning sign.", "body": "Metro Recruiter pay is down significantly to $54,658 even as national advertised pay for the role climbed to $67,643. Under-investing in talent acquisition capacity in a 2.9%-unemployment market risks slower time-to-fill exactly when manufacturing employers need sourcing muscle most."}, {"headline": "HR Business Partner demand is repricing faster than the national market.", "body": "Local HRBP pay rose significantly to a $91,250 median, outpacing the national median of $83,180. This appears to reflect employers leaning on HRBP roles to manage workforce planning complexity in a stalled-growth, high-retention environment rather than expanding headcount broadly."}, {"headline": "Benefits Manager pay signals rising plan-design stakes, not just cost inflation.", "body": "Both metro ($118,534) and national ($120,000) medians moved up significantly, converging local pay with national levels for the first time in this dataset. Consider benchmarking this role against the complexity employers are buying \u2014 cost-shifting strategy and plan administration \u2014 rather than historical local pay norms."}], "local_conditions": "Sheboygan MSA unemployment held near historic lows at 2.9% in August, but the flat month-over-month move against a one-tenth rise year-over-year signals a labor market that has stopped tightening further after years of compression, with manufacturing's 21.4% employment share continuing to anchor wage floors well above national averages for production and skilled-trades work. Sheboygan County's non-seasonally adjusted rate ticked up to 3.2% from 2.8% a year ago, consistent with statewide softening across all 13 Wisconsin metros, even as the county posted the highest average weekly wage among Wisconsin's smaller counties in Q3 2025.", "implications": "A metro this tight cannot rely on unemployment slack to solve hiring problems \u2014 sourcing strategy, not wage inflation alone, is the binding constraint, particularly for production, CNC, and food-manufacturing occupations where local concentration runs 20-plus times the national rate. Divergence between Recruiter pay moving down locally while rising nationally suggests Sheboygan employers may be under-pricing talent acquisition roles just as skilled-trade competition intensifies; organizations should evaluate whether internal TA compensation keeps pace with the sourcing difficulty these roles now face.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Manitowoc County's unemployment rise from 2.8% to 3.2% year-over-year suggests early softening at the metro's edges. Watch whether this spreads into Sheboygan County proper or reflects isolated manufacturing adjustment."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Wisconsin trade employment is down 11,300 jobs statewide with retail off 7,500; Sheboygan's transportation and material-moving concentration (9.0% of employment) makes the metro exposed if logistics and retail-adjacent cuts accelerate locally."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Statewide real wage growth is at risk of erosion as 2026 inflation outpaces nominal gains, echoing 2022 conditions. Multi-year compensation plans built on 2025 wage trend data should be stress-tested against a weaker real-wage scenario."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National contract/temp rates jumped to $44.48/hour while Wisconsin temporary job orders fell, suggesting employers are shifting toward permanent hires under uncertainty. Track whether Sheboygan manufacturers follow this national shift toward permanent-role conversions over contingent staffing."}], "roles": [{"role": "Compensation Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 71785.75, "metro_p50": 72626.0, "metro_p75": 72626.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 101054.6, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "HR Business Partner", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 76960.0, "metro_p50": 91250.0, "metro_p75": 91250.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 83180.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Benefits Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 81350.0, "metro_p50": 118534.0, "metro_p75": 133021.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 120000.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "HRIS Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 76737.0, "metro_p50": 82318.4, "metro_p75": 89607.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 95665.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "HR Coordinator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 39797.0, "metro_p50": 41068.8, "metro_p75": 53722.5, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 50095.2, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Recruiter", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 43333.0, "metro_p50": 54658.2, "metro_p75": 58990.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 67643.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Payroll Specialist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 49161.0, "metro_p50": 61310.2, "metro_p75": 65836.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 58266.2, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "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": "September 2026", "files": {"html": "sheboygan-wi-msa/human-resources/2026-08.html", "pdf": "sheboygan-wi-msa/human-resources/2026-08.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T16:22:20.044224+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/sheboygan-wi-msa/human-resources/2026-08.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/sheboygan-wi-msa/human-resources/2026-08.pdf"}