Crain’s Detroit Business
Nov. 3, 2022
Minnah Arshad
The city of Detroit’s unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been since September 2000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The city’s unemployment rate was 7 percent in September, down from 7.9 percent in August and 12.5 percent this time last year, according to a news release from Mayor Mike Duggan’s office. The city’s unemployment rate spiked to 38 percent in May 2020 during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Detroit is still above the national rate of 3.5 percent in September, according to BLS data, with Michigan a little behind at 4.1 percent.
“If you listen to what people are saying across the country, many say the U.S. is on the brink of a recession. If you look at what’s happening here in Detroit, that is simply not the case,” Duggan said in the release. “Here in Detroit, we create opportunity for our residents by removing barriers to employment. While there is still work to be done, we are thrilled to see this level of unemployment among our residents.”
There are 10,000 job openings through its Detroit at Work program, the city’s employment agency, the release states.
“We’ve had hundreds of Detroiters hired by local companies in the past 90 days, and we have more than 10,000 jobs available through Detroit at Work,” Detroit at Work Group Executive Nicole Sherard-Freeman said in the release. “There is no shortage of opportunity in Detroit. …”
Detroit at Work has worked to attract businesses, fill labor gaps in the city and get residents employed at companies including JPMorgan Chase & Co., which recently piloted its first virtual call center in the city with DAW’s assistance; Henry Ford Health Systems, and Dakkota Integrated Systems, where DAW helped staff its new plant on Detroit’s east side, according to the release.
As Detroit’s unemployment rate drops, the nation continues to face a labor shortage due to high consumer demand and a wave of Baby Boomer retirements. In September, the U.S. had two job openings per unemployed person, the highest ratio since BLS began collecting data for the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey in 2000.