Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · St. Cloud, MN 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
National Registered Nurse pay rose significantly to $102,581 median
Indeed Hiring Lab / advertised pay data — National advertised pay comparison, September 2026
Local Economic Conditions
St. Cloud MSA labor force fell 1,517 and unemployment rose to 4.2% from 3.7%
St. Cloud Live — Reporting on April 2026 St. Cloud MSA labor force data
Macy's Crossroads Center closure announced as part of 14-store closure plan
Wikipedia/Macy's corporate disclosure — Macy's store closure announcement, January 2026
Open Threads in the Data
Minnesota labor force participation fell to 66.9% from 68.1% year-over-year
Minnesota DEED — State labor force participation data, August 2026
Looking Ahead
National wage growth at 3.0% vs 3.4% inflation, weakest since May 2021
Bureau of Labor Statistics — September 2026 national employment and wage report
Minnesota federal government employment declined 6.0% year-over-year
Minnesota DEED — Minnesota industry employment breakdown, August 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