Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Springfield, IL 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
Illinois statewide unemployment at 4.7% in August 2026
Bureau of Labor Statistics — State unemployment rate release
This Month's Takeaways
National average hourly earnings growth slipped to 3.0% vs 3.4% inflation
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National wage and CPI comparison
Local Economic Conditions
Springfield MSA unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in October 2025
Illinois Department of Employment Security — IDES metro unemployment release
Springfield MSA posted 23 consecutive months of YoY job growth through Sept 2025
Illinois Department of Employment Security — IDES nonfarm payroll data
Open Threads in the Data
Sangamon County average weekly wage reached $1,447, up 3.2% YoY, Q1 2026
Bureau of Labor Statistics — County Employment and Wages (QCEW)
Looking Ahead
Illinois labor force contracted to 6.477 million in August 2026 from 6.571 million in March
Illinois Department of Employment Security / Moody's Analytics — Statewide labor force participation trend
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