Detroit Overview

Following the crash of the auto industry and the real estate market, the Detroit job market and economy are finally on a path to recovery. However, because they fell so significantly during the recession, they have considerable ground to make up. Forecasts predict continued slow growth in hiring for the Motor City’s 2 million workers.

Detroit Job Opportunities

Detroit is the automobile capital of the nation and home to General Motors, Chrysler and Ford. It is surrounded by manufacturing plants, research centers and next-generation fuel companies that support the auto industry. Besides auto, Detroit also has a solid healthcare presence with Detroit Medical Center and Henry Ford Health System, and is expanding its alternative-energy and life-sciences sectors.

The professional/business services and trade, transportation and utilities sectors account for 37 percent of Detroit jobs. Other critical sectors include education/health services and manufacturing. Most industries have been expanding employment, with the exception of government and information and sporadic monthly contraction in leisure and hospitality.

Detroit Employment Trends

After many hard years, Detroit’s job trends are improving. The city’s unemployment rate peaked at a staggering 18.2 percent in July 2009 and, with mixed month-to-month performance, started 2012 just under 12 percent. Detroit payrolls contracted for nearly five years before expanding through 2011. Job expansion has slowed in recent months despite vast strides in 2011 online hiring volume, which reached near-prerecession levels.

Moody’s Analytics expects Detroit jobs to increase 0.6 percent between Q2 2012 and Q2 2013, below the 1.3 percent growth expected in the US job supply.