{"schema_version": 1, "id": "sumter-sc-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 419, "label": "Sumter, SC MSA", "slug": "sumter-sc-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "restaurant_industry", "slug": "restaurant-industry", "label": "Restaurant Industry"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T07:15:38.746431+00:00", "headline": "Sumter restaurant pay splits sharply between front and back of house.", "headline_summary": "Server pay rose to $31,200 and assistant manager pay jumped to $45,000 even as Sumter's nonfarm employment fell 1.8% year-over-year and shift manager pay slipped to $29,022.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Sumter MSA unemployment rate", "value": "4.8%", "context": "Down from 5.4% in June 2026"}, {"label": "Sumter nonfarm employment", "value": "37,500", "context": "Down 1.8% year-over-year"}, {"label": "SC hospitality job growth", "value": "+10,300 jobs", "context": "Annual, through August 2026, statewide"}, {"label": "SC labor market tightness", "value": "43 workers per 100 openings", "context": "Statewide ratio, signals acute tightness"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Server pay climbed while shift manager pay fell \u2014 a telling split.", "body": "Metro server pay moved up moderately to $31,200 even as shift manager pay dropped moderately to $29,022, nearly inverting the typical hierarchy. Current conditions suggest tip-supported front-of-house roles are outearning the first rung of hourly management, complicating promotion-based retention strategies."}, {"headline": "Assistant manager pay surge signals a management retention play.", "body": "Assistant Restaurant Manager pay rose significantly to a $45,000 metro median, well above the relatively flat national median of $39,211. This appears to reflect local operators front-loading investment in management bench strength as the broader Sumter labor pool contracts year-over-year."}, {"headline": "Falling unemployment masks a shrinking local job base.", "body": "Sumter's 4.8% unemployment rate is improving, but nonfarm payrolls are down 1.8% year-over-year \u2014 meaning fewer workers chasing fewer jobs, not necessarily more hiring. Labor cost planning should account for tightening supply even where headline unemployment appears to ease."}, {"headline": "Tipped-wage deregulation widens the gap between SC and neighboring states.", "body": "DOL's October withdrawal of the 80/20 rule, combined with Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi dropping 80/20/30 enforcement, loosens side-work pay obligations nationally while South Carolina's $2.13 tipped floor stays unchanged. Multi-state operators should expect growing complexity in standardizing tipped-wage compliance across the Southeast."}], "local_conditions": "Sumter MSA unemployment fell to 4.8% in September from 5.4% in June, yet nonfarm employment remains down 700 jobs (-1.8%) year-over-year at 37,500, signaling a labor market tightening on the supply side even as overall job count contracts. Statewide leisure and hospitality added 4,000 jobs in August and 10,300 annually, pulling against a Sumter base where food and hospitality already accounted for 7 of South Carolina's 51 WARN notices this year \u2014 a combination that points to churn within the sector rather than broad-based growth locally.", "implications": "Falling unemployment alongside shrinking total employment suggests Sumter operators are competing for a smaller available workforce even as statewide hospitality hiring accelerates, raising the real cost of filling back-of-house roles where South Carolina's tight 43-workers-per-100-openings ratio bites hardest. The federal 80/20 rule withdrawal gives front-of-house tipped-wage structures more flexibility on side-work duties, but that relief does not extend to kitchen staff, where BLS projects cook demand to grow 12% through 2035 against just 2% for servers. Consider reviewing back-of-house wage structures separately from front-of-house tipped models, since the two roles now face structurally different labor cost pressures.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Watch whether Sumter's nonfarm employment stabilizes or continues its year-over-year decline in the next two monthly SCDEW releases; a fourth consecutive contraction would suggest a structural labor supply issue beyond seasonal noise."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Statewide food and hospitality WARN activity (7 notices, 1,071 employees) bears watching for Sumter-specific filings as Q4 seasonal staffing peaks approach and margin pressure from a 6-14% labor cost rise reported by a third of operators persists."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Track whether South Carolina's stalled $8.75-$17.00 state minimum wage bills gain traction in the next legislative session; passage would force a rapid repricing of back-of-house wages against the current $7.25 federal floor."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Monitor advertised pay for shift manager and crew roles locally against the national stable trend \u2014 continued metro softness in shift manager pay could signal a flattening management career ladder that accelerates turnover."}], "roles": [{"role": "Assistant Restaurant Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 32938.0, "metro_p50": 45000.0, "metro_p75": 47727.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 39211.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Catering Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 37440.0, "metro_p50": 49250.0, "metro_p75": 55000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 50076.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Crew", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 22469.0, "metro_p50": 25748.2, "metro_p75": 27820.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 30066.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Line Cook", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 25528.0, "metro_p50": 28377.0, "metro_p75": 28711.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 37421.4, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Restaurant Manager/General Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 45266.0, "metro_p50": 57493.0, "metro_p75": 63500.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 59724.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Server", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 25042.0, "metro_p50": 31200.0, "metro_p75": 33005.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 35024.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Shift Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 24580.0, "metro_p50": 29021.8, "metro_p75": 32240.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 33024.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "SC Department of Employment and Workforce", "source_url": null, "statement": "Sumter MSA unemployment rate fell to 4.8% in September"}, {"source_name": "SC Department of Employment and Workforce", "source_url": null, "statement": "Sumter nonfarm employment down 700 jobs year-over-year"}, {"source_name": "U.S. Department of Labor", "source_url": null, "statement": "DOL withdrew the 80/20 tipped-wage rule in October 2026"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "Cooks projected to grow 12% through 2035 vs 2% for waiters"}, {"source_name": "Dunhill Staffing", "source_url": null, "statement": "South Carolina has 43 available workers per 100 open jobs"}, {"source_name": "South Carolina WARN Notice Tracker", "source_url": null, "statement": "SC food & hospitality sector had 7 WARN notices, 1,071 employees"}], "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": "sumter-sc-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10.html", "pdf": "sumter-sc-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:31:09.656877+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/sumter-sc-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/sumter-sc-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10.pdf"}