Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI 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
National average hourly earnings grew 3.0% vs 3.4% inflation
Bureau of Labor Statistics — September 2026 jobs report wage data
This Month's Takeaways
County labor force declined by 900 workers in June 2026
Indiana Workforce Development / Hoosierdata — Labor force monthly tracking
Local Economic Conditions
St. Joseph County unemployment at 3.6% in July 2026
Indiana Department of Workforce Development — County unemployment ranking data, July 2026
Transportation equipment manufacturing employed 33,700 workers in June 2026
Indiana Business Research Center — Metro economic outlook, 2026
Looking Ahead
Owens Corning WARN notice for 130 employees in Walkerton, effective Sept 19
Indiana WARN Act filings — State WARN notice database
National nonfarm payrolls added only 29,000 jobs in September with downward revisions
Bureau of Labor Statistics — September 2026 employment situation report
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