Detroit’s job market spans a large metropolitan payroll base, a substantial production workforce, and growing demand across health care, business, energy, and skilled trades. The latest measures below use the geography and period stated by each source, so metro employment, city labor-market conditions, and occupation wages should not be treated as interchangeable measures.
Contents
- Metro employment snapshot
- Where employment gained and declined
- Wages across major occupations
- Creative and professional work
- Production and skilled trades
- Unemployment and job postings
- Michigan context
Metro employment snapshot
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported 2,082,400 total nonfarm jobs in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn metropolitan area in June 2024. That was up from 2,075,100 a year earlier. The BLS characterized the year-over-year change as not statistically significant, which is important when interpreting the increase as a measure of short-term momentum. In the same release, U.S. employment rose 1.6% over the year, providing the national comparison point. (BLS Detroit Area Employment, June 2024.)
The June 2024 metro total was split across two reported divisions. Warren-Troy-Farmington had 1,299,700 jobs, representing 62% of metro payroll employment. Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia had 782,700 jobs, representing the remaining 38%. These are payroll-employment measures for the named divisions, not counts of all people living in those areas.
The BLS Economy at a Glance page provides a later November 2025 snapshot for a differently named geography. Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia had a civilian labor force of 823.3 thousand, employment of 771.8 thousand, unemployment of 51.4 thousand, and an unemployment rate of 6.2%. Its total nonfarm employment was 773.7 thousand, with a 12-month nonfarm employment change of -1.7%.
For Detroit-Warren-Livonia, the November 2025 figures were a civilian labor force of 2,186.0 thousand, employment of 2,073.6 thousand, unemployment of 112.4 thousand, and an unemployment rate of 5.1%. Total nonfarm employment was 2,041.2 thousand, and the 12-month nonfarm employment change was -1.2%. Because the names and definitions differ from the June 2024 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn release, these figures are best read as separate snapshots rather than a simple continuous series.
Where employment gained and declined
The June 2024 BLS industry breakdown shows that employment changes were uneven across Detroit’s major sectors. Mining, logging, and construction recorded the largest reported gain, adding 7,700 jobs over the year. Education and health services added 6.4 thousand jobs, while trade, transportation, and utilities added 5.3 thousand.
Several industries recorded year-over-year losses. Professional and business services lost 10.0 thousand jobs, the largest decline listed in the release. Financial activities lost 1.7 thousand, manufacturing lost 1.6 thousand, and leisure and hospitality lost 1.5 thousand. Information lost 0.8 thousand jobs, while other services lost 0.5 thousand.
| Industry or measure | Year-over-year change, June 2024 |
|---|---|
| Mining, logging, and construction | +7,700 |
| Education and health services | +6.4 thousand |
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | +5.3 thousand |
| Financial activities | -1.7 thousand |
| Manufacturing | -1.6 thousand |
| Leisure and hospitality | -1.5 thousand |
| Information | -0.8 thousand |
| Other services | -0.5 thousand |
| Professional and business services | -10.0 thousand |
The sector figures describe changes in payroll jobs, while the later labor-force figures describe residents who are employed, unemployed, or participating in the labor force. That distinction matters when comparing the BLS industry release with city or metropolitan unemployment statistics.
Wages across major occupations
The BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) release for Detroit measured an average hourly wage of $32.29 across all occupations in May 2024. The U.S. average in the same comparison was $32.66. Detroit’s overall average was therefore reported alongside a national figure that was $0.37 higher, but the occupational mix differs substantially across the two labor markets.
Management jobs represented 6.8% of Detroit employment and had a mean hourly wage of $65.97. Business and financial operations also represented 6.8%, with a mean wage of $43.18. Computer and mathematical occupations represented 3.2% and averaged $49.53. Architecture and engineering represented 3.8% and averaged $48.73.
Life, physical, and social science occupations represented 0.6% of employment and averaged $40.19. Legal occupations represented 0.8% and averaged $55.15. Educational instruction and library occupations represented 4.3% and averaged $29.59. Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations represented 6.6% and averaged $48.71, while healthcare support represented 4.3% and averaged $18.39.
The largest shares in the reported occupational groups included office and administrative support at 11.5%, production at 9.6%, transportation and material moving at 8.8%, sales and related work at 8.2%, and food preparation and serving at 8.1%. Their mean hourly wages were $24.01, $25.49, $24.44, $26.73, and $17.27, respectively.
Other service and operational groups also show a wide wage range. Protective service jobs represented 1.9% of employment and averaged $28.50 per hour. Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance represented 2.7% and averaged $18.60. Personal care and service represented 1.8% and averaged $17.87.
Creative and professional work
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations represented 1.1% of Detroit employment in the May 2024 OEWS release. The group’s mean hourly wage was $31.77. This category is broader than design alone: the supplied BLS label combines arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media work, so its share and wage should not be read as a standalone measure for graphic designers, artists, or another single creative occupation.
The professional wage figures provide useful neighboring benchmarks. Business and financial operations had a 6.8% employment share and a $43.18 mean hourly wage. Computer and mathematical occupations had a 3.2% share and a $49.53 mean. Architecture and engineering had a 3.8% share and a $48.73 mean. Legal work had a 0.8% share and a $55.15 mean, while management had a 6.8% share and a $65.97 mean.
Education and community-facing work occupied different positions in the same release. Educational instruction and library jobs represented 4.3% of Detroit employment at $29.59 per hour. Community and social service jobs represented 1.6% at $28.38. Life, physical, and social science jobs represented 0.6% at $40.19. These percentages are employment shares, not job-opening shares, and the wages are mean hourly wages rather than posted offer amounts.
Production and skilled trades
Detroit’s production sector had 183,640 jobs in May 2024 according to the BLS OEWS release. Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators accounted for 62,530 of those jobs. Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers accounted for 11,620, while cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders accounted for 11,320.
Production jobs represented 9.6% of Detroit employment and had a mean hourly wage of $25.49, compared with $24.08 nationally. The BLS also reported unusually high local concentration for selected occupations: tool and die makers were employed at 6.65 times the national rate, and engine and other machine assemblers were employed at 6.40 times the U.S. average.
The OEWS sample included 7,004 establishments and had a 66% response rate. Those survey details help frame the estimates: the wage and employment figures are statistical estimates based on the reported OEWS program rather than a complete count of every individual job.
The WIN Detroit Labor Market Report for Q2 2025 reported 28,790 job postings in the city. Within the skilled trades cluster, maintenance and repair workers, general had 358 postings; first-line supervisors of production and operating workers had 84; industrial production managers had 60; production workers, all other had 60; and electrical and electronic engineering technologists and technicians had 22. Skilled trades workers were down 1.0% from 2024.
The same report said the top posted skilled-trades job paid a median hourly wage of $23.29, or $48,443 annually. Nine of the top ten skilled-trades jobs paid median hourly wages above $23.00. Many of the top postings required a high school diploma or equivalent, or an associate degree, and many offered moderate-to-long-term on-the-job training in lieu of experience.
Unemployment and job postings
City-level figures in the WIN Detroit Labor Market Report show movement between the first and second quarters of 2025. Detroit employment increased by 1,714 workers from Q1 to Q2, while unemployment fell by 6,759 people. Labor force participation fell by 5,044 people, or 1.9%, over the same period. Detroit had 22,390 unemployed people in Q2 2025, and its unemployment rate was 8.6%.
The city’s labor force had 263,811 workers in 2025. The report also recorded a labor force peak of 262,129 workers in 2020 before a dip to 241,955 in 2021. Detroit employment dipped 10.2% in 2020 versus 2019 during the pandemic. These historical figures use the report’s stated city geography and should not be substituted for the metropolitan labor-force measures from the BLS Economy at a Glance page.
Job postings in Q2 2025 were concentrated in several occupation groups. Health care was the top posting occupation group in Detroit, business and finance was second-highest, and energy was among the top posting groups. Registered nurses alone had 2,469 job postings. Health care had 1,338 more postings than business and finance.
Michigan context
The Michigan Annual Economic Analysis Report reported a 4.7% annual average unemployment rate for Michigan in 2024. The state’s labor force topped 5 million, and its labor force participation rate rose to 61.8%.
Michigan’s 2024 annual average unemployment rate was 5.4% for males and 3.7% for females. Annual average employment growth was 0.6%, trailing the national rate by 0.7 percentage points. These statewide annual measures provide context for Detroit but do not replace the city, division, or metropolitan statistics reported above.