{"schema_version": 1, "id": "worcester-ma-msa/metro-job-market/2026-09", "product": "Metro Job Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 535, "label": "Worcester, MA MSA", "slug": "worcester-ma-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "general_conditions", "slug": "metro-job-market", "label": "General Market Conditions"}, "period": "2026-09", "public_after": "2026-09-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T13:44:13.910054+00:00", "headline": "Worcester leads Massachusetts in jobs, but one layoff tests the trend.", "headline_summary": "Worcester posted the state's strongest year-over-year job growth at 1.9 percent, yet a 639-worker Community Healthlink WARN notice and a county unemployment rate of 4.5 percent complicate the picture.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Worcester YoY job growth", "value": "+1.9%", "context": "Highest among MA metros; Amherst-Northampton +1.7%, Springfield +1.1%"}, {"label": "Worcester County unemployment", "value": "4.5%", "context": "vs 4.3% statewide, 4.1% national (August 2026)"}, {"label": "Largest MA WARN filing in 2026", "value": "639 workers", "context": "Community Healthlink, Worcester/Leominster, filed 8/10/2026"}, {"label": "Worcester avg weekly wage", "value": "$1,506", "context": "vs $1,654 U.S. average (Q1 2026)"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Worcester outpaces every other Massachusetts metro on job growth.", "body": "The 1.9 percent year-over-year gain leads Amherst-Northampton (1.7 percent) and Springfield (1.1 percent), even as all seven major state MSAs shed jobs month-over-month in August. That divergence between annual and monthly readings suggests underlying strength that short-term volatility may be obscuring."}, {"headline": "A single large layoff complicates the growth narrative.", "body": "Community Healthlink's 639-worker WARN notice, filed in August, was the largest in Massachusetts this year and lands directly in the Worcester/Leominster area. Healthcare accounted for the most WARN notices statewide (20), making this less an isolated event than a visible instance of broader sector churn."}, {"headline": "Local wages are running below both state and national averages.", "body": "Worcester's first-quarter average weekly wage of $1,506 trails the U.S. average of $1,654 by roughly 9 percent, a gap that may reflect the metro's industry mix relative to higher-wage Boston-area professional services. For commerce leaders, this cost differential is a structural feature of the local business climate, not a recent shift."}, {"headline": "Public-sector and healthcare stability diverge from the statewide pattern.", "body": "Massachusetts job growth has concentrated almost entirely in health care and education even as trade, information, financial activities, and leisure collectively lost nearly 17,000 positions this year. Worcester's above-average job growth appears consistent with this statewide sector tilt, suggesting its economic base is better aligned with where growth is actually occurring."}], "local_conditions": "Worcester remains the standout performer among Massachusetts metros, posting the largest year-over-year job gain in the state at 1.9 percent even as all seven major Massachusetts MSAs lost jobs between July and August, a divergence that suggests localized resilience against a statewide cooling trend. That momentum sits alongside a 4.5 percent county unemployment rate, above both the state's 4.3 percent and the national 4.1 percent, and a notable August WARN filing from Community Healthlink affecting 639 healthcare workers in the Worcester/Leominster area.", "implications": "Worcester's outperformance on year-over-year job growth, even amid a statewide contraction, signals the metro's economic base \u2014 anchored in health care, education, and professional services \u2014 is proving more durable than Boston's tech-heavy economy, which saw Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services employment fall 5.8 percent statewide. Commerce leaders evaluating expansion or investment timing should weigh this county-level resilience against the countervailing signal of the Community Healthlink layoff, which indicates sector-specific softness even within an otherwise growing local economy; current conditions suggest monitoring whether displaced healthcare workers are absorbed locally before reading August's job growth figure as an unambiguous trend.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Expected release", "body": "September unemployment data for both Massachusetts and the Worcester metro publish October 16 and October 20 respectively, which will show whether August's county-level softening (4.5 percent) persisted or reversed."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Healthcare carried the most WARN notices of any Massachusetts industry this year, and Worcester just absorbed the state's largest single filing. Watch whether additional healthcare-sector notices emerge locally in the next reporting cycle, which would suggest a pattern rather than an isolated event."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "National wage growth has slipped to 3.0 percent against 3.4 percent inflation, the first sustained real-wage decline in two years. If that gap persists into Worcester-area pay data, it could begin to show up in local consumer spending indicators tracked by commerce groups."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Massachusetts' Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services sector has contracted 5.8 percent statewide. Whether Worcester's more diversified base continues to outperform Boston's tech-heavy economy over the next two reporting cycles will test if this month's divergence is durable or temporary."}], "roles": [{"role": "Retail Sales Associate", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 30881.0, "metro_p50": 35100.0, "metro_p75": 38480.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 33325.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Retail Cashier", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 30666.0, "metro_p50": 35100.0, "metro_p75": 37029.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 31200.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 34923.0, "metro_p50": 40095.4, "metro_p75": 43160.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 38000.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "CDL Truck Driver", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 60000.0, "metro_p50": 78000.0, "metro_p75": 85000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 78000.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Delivery Driver", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 32745.0, "metro_p50": 36160.0, "metro_p75": 41600.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 34344.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Construction Laborer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 36929.0, "metro_p50": 42000.0, "metro_p75": 45760.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 40560.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Electrician", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 58318.5, "metro_p50": 76694.0, "metro_p75": 83200.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 71404.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 35532.0, "metro_p50": 41600.0, "metro_p75": 44720.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 39520.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Customer Service Representative", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 35008.0, "metro_p50": 39635.0, "metro_p75": 45134.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 39520.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Food Service Worker", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 32654.0, "metro_p50": 35360.0, "metro_p75": 37440.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 33756.2, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 39520.0, "metro_p50": 45323.0, "metro_p75": 48650.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 41106.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 34759.0, "metro_p50": 44511.2, "metro_p75": 49920.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 43680.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "HVAC Technician", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 64719.0, "metro_p50": 78094.2, "metro_p75": 93600.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 70720.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Registered Nurse", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 92509.5, "metro_p50": 114088.0, "metro_p75": 124255.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 102581.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 119401.0, "metro_p50": 153652.0, "metro_p75": 170000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 153652.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Data Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 99248.0, "metro_p50": 145605.4, "metro_p75": 159248.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 139500.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Accountant", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 59565.0, "metro_p50": 71933.0, "metro_p75": 80302.75, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 72182.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Financial Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 74743.25, "metro_p50": 98475.6, "metro_p75": 104845.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 94782.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "HR Generalist/Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 55949.0, "metro_p50": 80532.0, "metro_p75": 86509.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 75000.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Marketing Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 43692.75, "metro_p50": 58870.0, "metro_p75": 70614.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 62354.4, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Operations Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 73750.0, "metro_p50": 94078.0, "metro_p75": 119583.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 85216.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Elementary/Secondary School Teacher", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 49000.0, "metro_p50": 63861.0, "metro_p75": 70304.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 56731.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Account Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 63400.0, "metro_p50": 92308.6, "metro_p75": 115000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 92749.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Warehouse Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 57231.25, "metro_p50": 108597.2, "metro_p75": 113717.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 75000.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Business Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 83690.0, "metro_p50": 99106.0, "metro_p75": 110918.5, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 98279.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}], "industry_snapshot": [{"sector": "Construction", "median_pay": 83200.0, "pay_trend_direction": "up", "pay_trend_magnitude": "significant", "postings_trend_direction": "up", "postings_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"sector": "Manufacturing", "median_pay": 106294.0, "pay_trend_direction": "up", "pay_trend_magnitude": "significant", "postings_trend_direction": "up", "postings_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"sector": "Retail Trade", "median_pay": 46800.0, "pay_trend_direction": "up", "pay_trend_magnitude": "significant", "postings_trend_direction": "up", "postings_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"sector": "Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities", "median_pay": 62400.0, "pay_trend_direction": "down", "pay_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "postings_trend_direction": "up", "postings_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"sector": "Information", "median_pay": 122500.0, "pay_trend_direction": "up", "pay_trend_magnitude": "significant", "postings_trend_direction": "up", "postings_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"sector": "Financial Activities", "median_pay": 108860.0, "pay_trend_direction": "up", "pay_trend_magnitude": "significant", "postings_trend_direction": "up", "postings_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"sector": "Professional & Business Services", "median_pay": 85703.0, "pay_trend_direction": "up", "pay_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "postings_trend_direction": "up", "postings_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"sector": "Education & Health Services", "median_pay": 63440.0, "pay_trend_direction": "stable", "pay_trend_magnitude": "stable", "postings_trend_direction": "up", "postings_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"sector": "Leisure & Hospitality", "median_pay": 38480.0, "pay_trend_direction": "stable", "pay_trend_magnitude": "stable", "postings_trend_direction": "up", "postings_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"sector": "Government", "median_pay": 72660.0, "pay_trend_direction": "up", "pay_trend_magnitude": "significant", "postings_trend_direction": "up", "postings_trend_magnitude": "significant"}], "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": "October 2026", "files": {"html": "worcester-ma-msa/metro-job-market/2026-09.html", "pdf": "worcester-ma-msa/metro-job-market/2026-09.pdf", "sources_html": "worcester-ma-msa/metro-job-market/2026-09.sources.html"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T14:38:08.918289+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/worcester-ma-msa/metro-job-market/2026-09.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/worcester-ma-msa/metro-job-market/2026-09.pdf"}