Albany, NY · State government and Tech Valley
Careerscape is a national staffing agency whose recruiters specialize by industry and recruit remotely for Albany, NY employers and job seekers. Albany's biggest employer is the State, and a chip industry is growing beside it. Here is how hiring works in both, what roles pay and which New York rules apply.
Albany works on state time. Government accounts for about 107,000 of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy metro's 480,000 nonfarm jobs, and 35,216 New York State executive-branch employees work in Albany County alone. Every private employer in the Capital Region competes with the State for accountants, IT staff, analysts and administrators.
A second economy is now growing next to it. On October 14, 2026, GlobalFoundries said Japan will fund up to $21 billion for two new 300mm fabs at its Malta site, with the first expected online in 2029 and more than 1,000 skilled manufacturing jobs planned. In Albany, NY CREATES expects first light on North America's only publicly owned High NA EUV lithography research tool before the end of 2026. Both pull from the same pool of engineers, technicians, project managers and finance people.
The overall market is steady, not booming. Nonfarm jobs were up 0.5% over the year in September 2026 (preliminary). Education and health services grew 3.3%, while financial activities fell 3.8% and information fell 6.5%. Construction, which BLS counts with mining and logging here, was 1.7% lower, ahead of groundbreaking on the new fabs.
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By the numbers
Local figures for the Albany-Schenectady-Troy metro and Albany County. The BLS unemployment rate is for August 2026 and the job count for September 2026; both are preliminary and not seasonally adjusted.
Civil service hiring explained
Whether you are a job seeker weighing a state job or a private employer trying to hire the same people, it helps to know how the State fills positions. This covers New York State agencies; counties and cities run their own civil service systems.
Competitive positions are normally filled from eligible lists built from exam scores. Under Civil Service Law Section 61, an agency must appoint one of the three highest-ranked candidates willing to accept. That is fair, but it can be slow.
Under NY HELPS, agencies can hire people who meet a title's minimum qualifications without an exam, and those hires are appointed on a permanent basis. The Civil Service Commission extended the program through June 30, 2028. The State counts more than 60,000 state and local appointments since the original program began in 2023.
State vacancies are posted at statejobs.ny.gov. Choose "For the General Public," then set the NY HELPS field to "YES" to see jobs that do not require an exam.
Statewide, executive-branch agencies made 18,551 hires in 2024 while about 11% of positions turned over. Some of that is retirement, but it also means experienced state staff reach the private market every year, and private employers lose people to the State, too.
The State offers a pension and civil service job protections. Private employers usually win on speed, pay flexibility and hybrid options. Because NY HELPS has made state hiring faster, a private offer process that drags for weeks now loses more candidates.
State IT, finance, audit, policy and program staff often move to consulting firms, vendors, health systems and manufacturers. Describe your work in plain terms on a resume: budgets, systems, contracts and teams, not just title and grade. Contract-to-hire is a low-risk way to test the switch.
What's hiring
Metro job counts are BLS figures for September 2026 (preliminary). Company plans are as announced; dates are noted.
About 107,300 government jobs, up 1.7% in a year, including about 56,000 in state government. The Empire State Plaza complex in downtown Albany houses several state government buildings. Demand runs to IT, finance, auditing, policy analysis, nursing and direct care.
GlobalFoundries has run its Malta site since 2009 and plans to break ground on the first of two Japan-funded fabs in late 2026. NY CREATES runs the Albany NanoTech Complex, where its 310,000-square-foot NanoFab Reflection building is due to be completed by the end of 2026. Metro manufacturing employment is 27,500, up 1.5%.
Education and health services employ 94,200, up 3.3%, the fastest growth of any sector in the metro. Albany Medical Center calls itself one of the largest private employers in the Capital Region; it includes Albany Medical College.
GE Vernova announced a $41 million, 50-job expansion of generator assembly and testing in Schenectady in August 2025. The Naval Nuclear Laboratory operates the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Niskayuna and the Kesselring Site in West Milton.
Regeneron said in April 2025 that it was building a fill/finish manufacturing facility in Rensselaer. In November 2025 it outlined a roughly $2 billion plan for a former printing plant in Saratoga Springs, with at least 1,000 full-time jobs.
Professional and business services employ 63,100, up 1.8%. Financial activities fell 3.8% to 25,100 and information fell 6.5% to 5,800, so experienced finance and tech candidates may be easier to find than a year ago.
Pay benchmarks
Median annual wages in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy metro, from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. These are local figures.
| Role | Median annual pay | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Architectural and engineering managers | $181,000 | BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine (U.S. DOL), May 2025 |
| Software developers | $127,910 | BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine (U.S. DOL), May 2025 |
| Electronics engineers, except computer | $127,570 | BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine (U.S. DOL), May 2025 |
| Project management specialists | $109,850 | BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine (U.S. DOL), May 2025 |
| Mechanical engineers | $108,310 | BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine (U.S. DOL), May 2025 |
| Registered nurses | $99,970 | BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine (U.S. DOL), May 2025 |
| Accountants and auditors | $84,660 | BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine (U.S. DOL), May 2025 |
| Industrial engineering technologists and technicians | $82,480 | BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine (U.S. DOL), May 2025 |
| Industrial machinery mechanics | $76,220 | BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine (U.S. DOL), May 2025 |
Medians cover all employers and experience levels. BLS does not publish a metro figure for semiconductor processing technicians. For ranges by seniority, see the 2026 Salary Guide.
For employers
New York sets more hiring rules than most states, and they apply in Albany the same as statewide. Current as of October 2026. General information, not legal advice.
Since September 17, 2023, Labor Law 194-b requires employers with four or more employees to include a good-faith pay range or fixed rate in ads for jobs done at least partly in New York, including remote jobs that report to a New York supervisor or office. Open-ended ranges such as "$20+" are not allowed. The Labor Department says temporary help firms recruiting for work at client organizations are not covered, but ads for jobs at the firm itself are.
Since January 6, 2020, Labor Law 194-a bars all New York employers from asking applicants about past pay, getting it from former employers, or using it to set an offer. Candidates may volunteer it. Listing it as an "optional" application question is not allowed.
Since November 16, 2024, many convictions are sealed automatically: misdemeanors three years and felonies eight years after sentencing or release. The courts have until November 16, 2027 to finish sealing. Employers who get criminal history from a check must give the applicant a copy of the report and of Correction Law Article 23-A.
Outside New York City, Long Island and Westchester, the 2026 minimum wage is $16.00 an hour, and the executive and administrative exemption threshold is $1,199.10 a week ($62,353.20 a year). From 2027 the minimum wage adjusts each year with inflation.
Employers with 5 to 99 employees must provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave a year, and those with 100 or more up to 56 hours. Since January 1, 2025, private employees also get 20 hours of paid prenatal leave on top of sick leave.
Nuclear and defense work changes the calendar. The Naval Nuclear Laboratory, for example, says every employee must obtain a DOE security clearance, taking two months to a year with an average of three months, and must be a U.S. citizen. Make citizenship and clearance needs clear in the posting.
Where the work is
The Albany-Schenectady-Troy metro sits on both banks of the Hudson and along the Mohawk. State jobs cluster in Albany; chip and energy work is spread to the north and west.
The Empire State Plaza complex of state government buildings, plus the private firms that work with state agencies.
The Albany NanoTech Complex, run by NY CREATES, sits across Fuller Road from UAlbany's Uptown Campus. UAlbany's College of Nanotechnology, Science, and Engineering keeps research space there.
GlobalFoundries' headquarters and fab, and the site of its two planned new fabs. Hudson Valley Community College runs a semiconductor manufacturing training center and a STEM Education Center nearby.
Regeneron's planned roughly $2 billion manufacturing site in Saratoga Springs, and the Naval Nuclear Laboratory's Kesselring Site in West Milton, near Saratoga Springs.
GE Vernova's Schenectady generator and steam operations, and the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, established in Niskayuna in 1946.
Home of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, which runs a Semiconductor Scholars program with Hudson Valley Community College students that starts with a site visit to GlobalFoundries.
Across the Hudson from downtown Albany. Regeneron's fill/finish manufacturing project, announced as under construction in 2025, is here, and so is the Albany-Rensselaer Amtrak station, the main rail link to New York City.
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