Bach Seat

Detroit’s job market is good despite what the orange one says. Statista reports data from the New York Times, Detroit has posted a 27.2% increase in technology jobs between 2010 and 2015. I have written about the strength of the metro Detroit tech job sector as far back as 2011 here, here, and here.This rate of job growth places Motown 8th nationally in tech job creation over the past five years. The Motor City came in only .01% behind Boston and out-performed cities like Atlanta (22.6%) and Chicago (18.7%) in creating tech jobs.

Not only is the Detroit tech sector a national leader, according to Crain’s Detroit, but Detroit is also a job-seekers market. The article says manufacturers are struggling to find entry-level employees and are being forced to raise wages to find talent.

The average advertised salary for local workers with zero to two years of experience has risen more than 16.5% to $52,729 in 2015 from $45,256 in 2011, according to an analysis by the Workforce Intelligence Network for Southeast Michigan. For workers with three to eight years of experience, that average has increased 13%; and for those with nine-plus years of work experience, it increased only 0.5 percent.

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This can be traced to the rejuvenated auto industry, which is increasingly dependent on high-tech skills. Manufacturing is an increasingly prodigious driver of tech jobs; games and dot-coms are not the only paths to technical employment growth.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.