October 10, 2025
Due to a recent policy change from a large online job board, Lightcast Developer, the third-party source of this job demand data, has shifted its methodology. MCDA is monitoring changes as they appear in the data across the state. Notably, recent data shifts are potentially procedural rather than practical. Recent data may be revised as Lightcast Developer continues to make adjustments.
In August 2025, 184,000 online job advertisements were posted in Michigan, representing a reduction of 10,400 (-5.3 percent) from the previous month. Despite this reduction, August had more than the average number of monthly online job ads over the past year (170,400 ads). Additionally, August 2025 had 10,700 more advertisements (+6.2 percent) than August 2024.
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Michigan Online Job Advertisements Over Time
Source: Help Wanted OnLine, Lightcast Developer
General medical and surgical hospitals; Limited-service restaurants; and Colleges, universities, and professional schools were the most advertised industries, accounting for 10.2 percent of total ads. From July to August, Colleges, universities, and professional schools replaced Offices of physicians (except mental health specialists) as the third most advertised industry. Matching previous months, the topmost advertised occupations were Registered nurses, Retail salespersons, and First-line supervisors of retail sales workers.
The supply and demand ratio indicates the number of unemployed people (supply) in relation to the number of available online job advertisements (demand). In August 2025, Michigan recorded a supply and demand ratio of 1.36, meaning there were approximately 136 unemployed people for every 100 jobs advertised online. This was the lowest ratio in 2025 to date, and it can be attributed to a decline in unemployment over the month and an above-average number of online job advertisements.
The Transportation equipment manufacturing industry is a subsector of the Manufacturing industry that is responsible for developing equipment for transporting people or goods. In August, this industry had just over 5,200 online job advertisements in Michigan, which was the fourth largest demand among U.S. states. This was a growth of 550 ads (+11.8 percent) from the previous month and 270 (+5.4 percent) from August 2024.
Advertisements for this industry were most concentrated in Oakland County (29.8 percent), Wayne County (22.7 percent), and Macomb County (16.3 percent). These counties are part of the Detroit Metro Prosperity Region, which collectively accounted for 68.8 percent of all online job advertisements for this industry. The companies that advertised the most for this industry were General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis. Together, these companies made up 39.6 percent of this industry’s online job advertisements.
Just over 78.0 percent of the online job advertisements for this industry listed a minimum education requirement. A minimum education requirement lists the lowest level of education an employer will accept, but employers may prefer a higher level than what is listed. Of the ads that listed a minimum education required, 24.3 percent requested a high school diploma or GED, 4.5 percent requested an associate degree, and 71.2 percent requested a bachelor’s degree or higher.
In August, the demand for this industry was spread over many occupations. Twenty-seven different occupations each made up at least 1.0 percent of the industry’s online advertisements. The top three occupations were Industrial engineers (6.4 percent), Software developers (5.4 percent), and Mechanical engineers (3.8 percent).
Percentage of <i>Transportation Equipment Manufacturing</i> Advertisements by Occupation, August 2025
Source: Help Wanted OnLine, Lightcast Developer
More information about Michigan job advertisements can be found using the Michigan Online Job Advertisement Dashboard.
