Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Spokane, WA 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
Spokane average weekly wage rose 6.9% YoY to $1,369 in Q4 2025
Bureau of Labor Statistics — County Employment and Wages (QCEW) data
Washington lost ~14,500 jobs in September, ranked 44th in job growth
Washington Employment Security Department — Statewide monthly job growth commentary from labor economist Paul Turek
Local Economic Conditions
Spokane County unemployment rate at 3.4% in July 2026
Washington Employment Security Department — County-level unemployment data
Spokane payrolls fell 2,500 to 264,000 jobs
Washington Employment Security Department — Monthly nonfarm payroll figures for Spokane County
Health services and private education added 1,200 jobs YoY
ESD Regional Labor Economist — Sector-level employment change commentary
Looking Ahead
Washington wage growth of 3.1% against 3.5% inflation statewide
Washington Employment Security Department — State wage and inflation comparison, 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