Detroit’s Staggering Number of Unemployed Per Job Posting

A few weeks ago, Paul Kedrosky posted a graph on his website depicting the number of unemployed per job listing in the 50 most populated metro areas in the U.S. As of October 2009, metro Detroit had 13 unemployed people for every one job listing — the worst ratio on the list.

The graph (featuring data from Indeed.com, which was in turn from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics) shows that Washington D.C. and Baltimore both have one unemployed person per job posting.

Lauren Silverman reported in a recent blog post that about half of Michigan college students move out of state after graduation, and that some of the most common destinations include Illinois, California, and New York. It’s interesting then to see that some metro areas in those states are low on the list: Chicago is #32 (with a 4:1 ratio of unemployed people to job openings), San Diego is #36 (5:1), and Los Angeles is #47 (6:1).

The data on Indeed.com must have changed slightly since Kedrosky’s post. For example, Los Angeles is listed at #40 on his chart.

(Note: Metro areas were also ranked based on whether the ratio had recently gone up or down.)

Similar Posts:

• Where Generation Y Is Headed (November 13, 2009)
• Keeping Out-Of-Staters in Michigan (November 2, 2009)
• Ohio Uses Wrong Tool in Brain Drain Battle (November 3, 2009)
• ‘Pure Washtenaw’ Campaign an Awesome Idea (November 6, 2009)
• Young People Make Connections in Jackson (November 19, 2009)

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