February 12, 2026
Due to a policy change from a large online job board, our third-party source of job demand data (The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine®) shifted its methodology. Revisions may have occurred to the data from the latter half of 2025, altering previously posted numbers.
During 2025, just over 1,042,000 online job advertisements were available throughout Michigan—a 13.6 percent increase over the number of ads observed in 2024. Of these advertisements, more than 940,000 were newly posted, meaning they did not carry over from the previous year. This marked a 14.6 percent increase in newly posted advertisements from 2024, the largest yearly increase since the transition from 2020 to 2021. Moreover, 2025 recorded the largest number of unique annual postings since the labor market’s post-COVID-19 recovery in 2022 and surpassed pre-pandemic levels of advertisements.
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Unique Michigan Online Job Advertisements by Year
Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine®
Over half of the online job advertisements available throughout 2025 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 requested. Of the jobs that listed a minimum education required, 50.6 percent requested a high school diploma or GED, 9.6 percent requested an associate degree, and 39.9 percent requested a bachelor’s degree or higher. In 2024, a similar share of ads included minimum education requirements; however, a greater share of employers sought a high school diploma or associate degree, while fewer wanted a bachelor’s degree or higher. This suggests employers may have favored higher education more in 2025 than in 2024.
From 2024 to 2025, available advertisements increased, but the change in ads differed widely by major industry group. The Transportation and warehousing industry (+40.6 percent, +6,900 ads) had the largest growth over the year followed by the Finance and insurance (+29.6 percent, +9,700 ads) and Utilities (+23.2 percent, +900 ads) industries. The Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (-33.5 percent , -500 ads) and Other services (-0.3 percent, -100 ads) industries were the only areas that experienced a reduction. Although Health care and social assistance did not have the largest percentage increase, it recorded the largest numerical increase in ads over the year (+13,100 ads). In 2025, it also accounted for the largest share of total ads (16.5 percent), followed by Retail trade (12.1 percent) and Manufacturing (9.5 percent).
Percent Change in Advertisements by Industry, 2024 to 2025
Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine®
In 2025, the occupations holding the largest shares of online job advertisements were Registered nurses (4.3 percent), Retail salespersons (3.7 percent), and Home health and personal care aides (2.4 percent). These occupations were also the most sought after in 2024. Despite being the top three requested occupations, their percentage shares of total advertisements have declined over the year. This may indicate that employers sought a more diverse range of occupations in 2025.
Over the course of the year, online job ads were largely concentrated in the most populous prosperity regions of the state: Detroit Metro (40.9 percent), West (16.9 percent) and Southeast (9.7 percent). Although the largest number of ads came from these regions in 2025, they were among those that grew the least over the year. The least populous prosperity regions had the largest ad growth over this period: Northeast (+104.0 percent), Northwest (+86.0 percent), and Upper Peninsula (+75.2 percent).
Percent Change in Advertisements by Prosperity Region, 2024 to 2025
Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine®
More information about Michigan job advertisements can be found using the Michigan Online Job Advertisement Dashboard.
