Brought to you by:
Powered by wagescape.com
Labor Market Pulse
Shreveport-Bossier City, LA Metro Edition
Focus: IT
Shreveport IT pay splits: admins climb, security and network slide.
4.3%
Metro unemployment rate
Vs 4.2% Louisiana (Aug), 4.1% national
50th nationally
Louisiana IT pay rank
$93,813 avg vs $109K+ national benchmarks
$115,554
Systems Admin advertised pay
Up significantly, above $101,168 national
2,102
Cyber Research Park jobs
Up from 1,854 in 2024, 2,885 by 2027
This Month's Takeaways
Systems Administrator pay is outrunning the national market here.
Metro advertised pay for Systems Administrators hit $115,554, above the $101,168 national median and up significantly year over year. This looks less like a generalist shortage and more like employers paying up for staff who can cover cloud, on-prem, and security duties simultaneously as specialist roles get squeezed.
Network Engineer and Cybersecurity Analyst pay are both sliding locally.
Network Engineer advertised pay fell to $75,040 against a rising $114,400 national median, and Cybersecurity Analyst dropped to $88,270 versus $106,790 nationally. Combined with Louisiana's rank of 50th in IT pay, this gap signals employers may be shifting these functions toward managed security providers rather than competing for scarce local specialists.
Software Engineer pay softness breaks from the national trend.
Metro Software Engineer advertised pay fell significantly to $126,844 while the national median held stable near $153,652. Worth testing whether this reflects fewer senior engineering postings locally or a genuine cooling in demand, since it diverges from national software development growth of 28.1% cited by SHRM this quarter.
Cyber Research Park growth is a sourcing option, not just a competitor.
Bossier City's Cyber Research Park has grown from 1,854 to 2,102 jobs with a path to 2,885 by 2027, building a denser local cybersecurity and cloud labor pool. IT leaders competing for the same talent may also find partnership or subcontracting opportunities as this cluster matures.
Local Labor Conditions
Shreveport-Bossier's labor market remains tight by Louisiana standards, with the metro's 4.3% unemployment rate holding roughly in line with the state's 4.2% August reading as Schlumberger's continued buildout of its 3.3 million square foot former GM facility and Bossier City's Cyber Research Park (now 2,102 jobs, tracking toward 2,885 by 2027) absorb technical talent. Statewide IT pay remains structurally depressed — Louisiana ranks 50th nationally at an average $93,813 — even as metro-specific advertised pay for infrastructure and security roles moves sharply in both directions, suggesting employers are repricing specific skills rather than lifting the market broadly.
Leadership & Talent Implications
Divergent metro pay signals — Systems Administrator advertised pay up significantly to $115,554 while Network Engineer and Cybersecurity Analyst both move down sharply — point to employers consolidating infrastructure spend into fewer, broader-scoped roles rather than hiring deep specialists locally, consistent with national build-vs-buy trends favoring outsourced security and cloud functions. Thin local bench strength in cybersecurity and cloud architecture, paired with Louisiana's weak IT wage progression even for tenured staff, makes retention of generalist senior talent a higher near-term risk than acquiring new specialists. Consider reviewing whether security and network engineering functions are better sourced through managed services given the gap between local and national advertised pay for these roles.
