Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Ann Arbor, MI MSA · October 2026
Every advertised-pay, job-posting and industry figure in this briefing comes from WageScape's own database of active job postings. The sources below back the external facts cited in the written analysis.
Sources cited in this report
This Month's Takeaways
Washtenaw average weekly wages exceeded state average by $30+ in Q3 2025
Michigan DTMB - Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages — QCEW wage and employment report
Local Economic Conditions
Washtenaw County unemployment rate held at 4.2% in August 2026
Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget — Monthly metro unemployment rate release
Michigan statewide unemployment rose to 5.0% in August 2026
Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget — State labor force and unemployment data
Ann Arbor MSA posted -2.3% employment change in June 2026, largest among MI metros
Michigan Labor Market Review — Metro-level monthly employment comparison
Open Threads in the Data
Washtenaw government sector projected to grow twice as fast as statewide rate through 2026
University of Michigan Regional and Sectoral Economic Growth Center — April 2026 regional economic forecast
Looking Ahead
Michigan minimum wage scheduled to rise to $15.00/hour January 1, 2027
Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act — State minimum wage schedule
How the numbers are calculated
- Advertised pay is the median of the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro. It is not survey or payroll data.
- Percent changes compare the latest six full months with the six months before that, for the same metro and sector.
- Sectors group postings by the employer's industry (NAICS) classification into ten sectors. Where a metro has too few postings in a sector, the state figure is used instead.
- Role pay trends use the same comparison windows. "Stable" means a change of less than 3%; "moderate" 3–10%; "significant" more than 10%.
Official data for comparison