There is a spatial mismatch in where people live and where jobs are located, but there is also a eligibility and skills gap. The Duggan administration regularly cited numbers that showed there were thousands of jobs available to Detroiters. That number came from listings on the State of Michigan’s Pure Michigan Talent Connect site where any employer could list a job they were hiring for in Detroit. I pulled the list of jobs open within the last month on March 1st and found over 5,400 listings. It seems like a massive number, how could any Detroiter be out of work?

In Detroit, 21% of residents have no high school diploma and just 18% hold a bachelors degree. During the pandemic funding increase from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the Duggan administration funded Detroit at Work to the tune of $100 million for multiple programs including a program that paid Detroiters to earn their GED. The difference in economic opportunity for those with no GED compared to those GED was insignificant. Economic opportunity and pay rate doesn’t significantly shift until someone changes from having no higher education to a earning a bachelors degree.

Now when I dig into the 5,400 jobs available in Detroit and filter for those where the minimum qualification is a high school diploma or GED, the number drops to just 172 jobs. Just 3% of jobs in Detroit are available to Detroiters who do not have a college degree.