{"schema_version": 1, "id": "springfield-ma-msa/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 411, "label": "Springfield, MA MSA", "slug": "springfield-ma-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:34:37.969139+00:00", "headline": "Springfield's security pay climbs as network engineer pay slips.", "headline_summary": "Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay hit $130,587 locally versus $107,327 nationally, while Network Engineer pay fell to $102,748 even as the national figure rose to $115,757.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Hampden County unemployment", "value": "5.7%", "context": "vs. 4.1% national rate, August 2026"}, {"label": "Springfield metro job growth", "value": "+1.1%", "context": "YoY Aug 2025-Aug 2026, 3rd-best in MA"}, {"label": "Hampden County avg weekly wage", "value": "$1,302", "context": "+4.0% YoY, Q1 2026"}, {"label": "Springfield WARN-notice impact", "value": "1,295 workers", "context": "11 notices filed in 2026"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Cybersecurity pay is outrunning the metro's own labor market logic.", "body": "Metro Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay ($130,587) now exceeds the national median ($107,327) despite Springfield's higher unemployment rate, suggesting employers are paying a scarcity premium. Compensation benchmarking for security roles should track candidate availability over general metro wage norms."}, {"headline": "Network Engineer pay is softening locally while national pay climbs.", "body": "Metro Network Engineer advertised pay declined moderately to $102,748 even as the national median rose to $115,757, a gap that may reflect reduced local infrastructure buildout or consolidation of network functions into centralized or cloud-managed services. Organizations should evaluate whether this role is being displaced by hybrid/cloud architecture decisions or by simple demand softness."}, {"headline": "IT Project Manager pay cuts point to flattening management layers.", "body": "Metro IT Project Manager advertised pay fell significantly, consistent with the statewide pattern of information-sector job losses (down 10% year-over-year) and employer reluctance to backfill attrition. This is consistent with AI-assisted project tooling and leaner delivery structures reducing demand for dedicated coordination roles."}, {"headline": "Manufacturing layoffs could seed adjacent IT talent pools.", "body": "Eleven WARN notices affecting 1,295 workers in 2026, concentrated in manufacturing, may release operations and plant-systems technical staff with transferable skills for infrastructure and support roles. Current conditions suggest monitoring whether displaced manufacturing-adjacent IT talent enters the Help Desk or Systems Administrator candidate pool over the next quarter."}], "local_conditions": "Hampden County unemployment ran at 5.7% in August, well above the 4.1% national rate, even as the Springfield metro posted a 1.1% year-over-year job gain \u2014 the third-strongest among Massachusetts metros \u2014 pointing to a labor market expanding and loosening at the same time. Manufacturing and public-sector layoffs, including 190 jobs cut at Smithfield Packaged Meats and 341 at CRRC MA, continue to feed a thinner regional candidate pool than Boston's knowledge-economy cluster, concentrating risk for IT employers who depend on local technical talent.", "implications": "Advertised pay for Cybersecurity Analyst (metro median $130,587, up significantly) and Systems Administrator ($107,769, up moderately) is rising faster locally than nationally, signaling that Springfield employers are bidding up scarce infrastructure and security talent even as broader metro unemployment sits above the national rate. That divergence \u2014 tight specialist supply inside a looser general labor market \u2014 complicates headcount planning: a thin local bench for security and platform roles may justify looking outside the metro or toward managed services for commodity support work. Consider reviewing which IT functions require Springfield-based headcount and which could shift to remote, hybrid, or outsourced delivery given the National Network Engineer premium ($115,757 vs. $102,748 locally) and Information-sector contraction underway statewide.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Hampden County unemployment swung from 5.1% in June to 6.0% in July before settling at 5.7% in August \u2014 watch whether this volatility stabilizes or signals a deeper softening that could ease the local hiring bar for infrastructure and support roles."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Statewide information-sector employment is down 10% year-over-year, and Springfield's thinner knowledge-economy base means any additional IT-adjacent layoffs locally will land harder on available specialist supply than in Boston."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Average weekly wages in Hampden County rose 4.0% year-over-year to $1,302, outpacing New England's broader 2.3% wage growth \u2014 track whether this reflects targeted competition for technical talent or broader compensation catch-up across sectors."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National data center and infrastructure hiring is up sharply, measured by job postings, which track demand and often cover several openings each (postings up 20% in three months), while tech-hub markets contract \u2014 Springfield's lower-cost profile could position it to capture overflow infrastructure headcount if regional employers signal interest in secondary-market buildout."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 76745.25, "metro_p50": 102134.4, "metro_p75": 124343.5, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 145881.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 94217.5, "metro_p50": 107769.0, "metro_p75": 118132.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 102503.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 78384.0, "metro_p50": 102748.0, "metro_p75": 111292.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 115757.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 109794.0, "metro_p50": 148160.6, "metro_p75": 150286.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 46319.25, "metro_p50": 52411.2, "metro_p75": 56010.75, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 53129.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 97388.0, "metro_p50": 130587.0, "metro_p75": 136875.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 107327.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "IT Project Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 104121.25, "metro_p50": 115917.6, "metro_p75": 129091.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 118149.8, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "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": "November 2026", "files": {"html": "springfield-ma-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "springfield-ma-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:30:49.284249+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/springfield-ma-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/springfield-ma-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}