July 15, 2026
In May 2026, just under 222,000 online job advertisements were available in Michigan. This was an increase of 8,600 ads (+4.0 percent) over the month and 36,800 ads (+19.9 percent) over the year. May marked the fifth consecutive month of over-the-year advertisement growth since 2026 began and the largest number of online job ads since June 2023. Of the total online job ads, just under 87,600 were newly posted, meaning they did not carry over from previous months.
The supply and demand rate measures the number of unemployed people (supply) to the number of available online job advertisements (demand) in Michigan for a given month. In May 2026, the supply and demand rate was 1.15, representing approximately 115 unemployed people per every 100 available online advertisements. May was the first month in 2026 in which the supply and demand rate increased from the previous month. This increase in the supply and demand rate mimicked the trends of previous years. The number of unemployed people tends to increase leading into the summer months resulting in supply and demand rate growth.
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Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine®; Local Area Unemployment Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Capital Area Michigan Works! is one of 16 areas in the Michigan Works! Network. These areas are known as Michigan Works Areas (MWAs). Capital Area Michigan Works! encompasses Clinton, Eaton, and Ingham counties. In May 2026, there were 17,500 online job advertisements in the Capital Area MWA. This was an increase of nearly 800 ads (+4.6 percent) from April 2026 and 1,100 ads (+6.9 percent) from May 2025.
In May, 60.4 percent of the jobs posted for the Capital Area MWA 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. Of the postings that listed a minimum education required, 35.4 percent requested a high school diploma or GED, and 8.3 percent requested an associate degree. The remaining 56.2 percent requested a bachelor’s degree or higher. In all ads across Michigan, a similar share listed a minimum education requirement, but a greater proportion required a high school diploma or GED (48.2 percent) and fewer required a bachelor’s degree or higher (43.1 percent). This suggests that employers in the Capital Area MWA sought a higher level of education than employers statewide.
In this region, the occupations with the largest shares of online job ads were Software developers (4.0 percent), Registered nurses (2.3 percent), and Retail salespersons (2.3 percent). While Registered nurses and Retail salespersons were also in the top three most posted occupations statewide, Software developers were not. The share of online job ads for Software developers was over two and a half times larger in the Capital Area MWA than statewide. More broadly, this pattern extended to the entire Computer and mathematical occupations group—the share of ads for this occupation group was 13.0 percent in the Capital Area MWA compared to 4.9 percent statewide. This indicates that employers in this region had a particularly large demand for technology-related occupations.
Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine®
More information about Michigan job advertisements can be found using the Michigan Online Job Advertisement Dashboard.
