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Michigan Online Job Advertisements Return to Pre-Pandemic Numbers

Roughly 178,200 online job advertisements were available in August 2024 throughout Michigan. The total number of ads were down over the month (-4,000 ads) and over the year (-10,500 ads). In August, more than 67,000 of the available ads were newly posted, which means these were advertisements that did not carry over from prior months.

Over the past five years, online job advertisements in Michigan (and the nation) have fluctuated greatly. Shortly after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, job postings were at record high numbers, reaching a peak of over 300,800 in March 2022 for the state. Since then, numbers have steadily declined and recently returned to numbers typically seen prior to 2020.

Online job advertisements have recently returned to pre-pandemic numbers.

Time Series of Total Available Online Job Advertisements in Michigan

Source: Help Wanted OnLine, Lightcast Developer

Industries and Occupations

There were four industries with over 10,000 available advertisements in the state during August. Ambulatory health care services was the topmost posted industry with nearly 11,700 available job ads. The remaining three industries were Professional, scientific, and technical services (11,400 ads); Hospitals (10,700 ads); and Educational services (10,300 ads). Two of these top four industry areas were related to Health care and social assistance, which is often the most advertised sector in the state and had 29,800 available ads during the month. The state's most advertised occupations are largely unchanged month to month.

These occupations are typically high in employment volume and available in every area of Michigan, which helps to explain the elevated demand. In August, Retail salespersons was the most advertised occupation at 7,800 ads. The remaining top five posted were Registered nurses (7,600 ads); First-line supervisors of retail sales workers (4,800 ads); Fast food and counter workers (3,500 ads); and Customer service representatives (3,300 ads). All other occupations had less than 3,000 online job advertisements for the month.

Minimum Education

Approximately 60 percent of the available advertisements in August listed a minimum education requirement within the posting. A minimum education requirement may not always reflect the educational attainment an employer would prefer. Regardless, it still provides valuable insight to what may be necessary to obtain the available jobs in the state.

Of the advertisements that listed a minimum education requirement, a high school diploma or equivalent was the most requested at 51 percent of the ads. This aligns with the typical educational requirement for a few of the top posted occupations including First-line supervisors of retail sales workers. Bachelor’s degrees were the next most requested minimum requirement with 33 percent of the ads. This is also the typical educational requirement of Registered nurses, another high-demand occupation in the state. The remaining shares of ads were for those with an associate degree (10 percent) and a master’s degree or higher (5.6 percent).

Over 80 percent of advertisements with a minimum education requirement list a high school diploma or equivalent or a bachelor’s degree.

Percent share of advertisements by minimum education requirement. 

  Stacked bar chart showing Michigan job advertisements by educational requirement

Source: August 2024 Help Wanted OnLine, Lightcast Developer
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