Detroit unemployment rate falls to 4.2% in April

The unemployment rate in Detroit has plunged to its lowest level in recorded history according to the latest numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced Wednesday. According to the Bureau, Detroit’s unemployment rate for April was 4.2%, down from the 5.8% rate for March reported last month.

It’s not known how long before 1990—when the Department of Labor first began tracking monthly unemployment numbers—that Detroit’s rate was this low. Until Wednesday, the previous recorded low was 5.4% in April 2000.
Duggan says the thousands of new jobs coming to Detroit and the city’s efforts to help Detroiters fill many of them have fueled the dramatic drop in joblessness.

“We have not seen this level of opportunity in our city since the late 1940s or early 1950s where anyone who wanted to work could find a job,” said Duggan. “These new numbers show that when opportunity is available, Detroiters go to work.”

Duggan pointed to major employers coming to Detroit in recent years, including the new Stellantis assembly plant, GM Factory Zero, Ford’s Michigan Central and Amazon, which together are directly or indirectly responsible for the creation of more than 13,000 new permanent jobs in the city, in addition to thousands more temporary construction jobs. Later this year, the District Detroit will start construction on the first piece of its $1.5 billion 10-building development creating nearly 12,000 new construction jobs and 6,000 permanent jobs. The new $300 million UM Center for Innovation and new employment center at the former AMC Headquarters are also expected to break ground this year.

“The challenge in Detroit is no longer attracting good-paying jobs,” said Nicole Sherard Freeman, the mayor’s group executive for Jobs, Economy and Detroit at Work. “Our focus now is making sure Detroiters are prepared for these jobs
through our employer partnerships and our training programs at Detroit at Work.”

As of Wednesday, there are 7,159 jobs and dozens of free training programs available to Detroiters at www.detroitatwork.com, Sherard Freeman noted.

Among the free training programs are available through www.DetroitAtWork.com are:

  • Construction/Skilled Trades
  • Manufacturing
  • Health Care
  • Information Technology
  • Transportation

Detroiters ages 18 and older also can call 313-962-WORK or visit any of the nine Detroit at Work career centers across the city to learn more or to get enrolled.