Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Lansing-East Lansing, MI MSA — September 2026
Lansing's labor force is shrinking faster than its jobless rate admits.
Lansing-East Lansing posted the steepest employment and labor-force decline of any Michigan metro in June at -2.9%, even as statewide unemployment held near 5.0% and skilled-services pay -- accounting, analytics, nursing -- kept climbing.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Lansing MSA monthly employment change: -2.9% — Largest decline among Michigan metros, June 2026
- Michigan unemployment rate: 5.0% — Up from 4.9% in July; 0.9 pts above national 4.1%
- Ingham County avg weekly wage growth: 4.1% — Q3 2025 YoY, $1,334/week average
- Michigan WARN-notice workers affected: 5,120 — 33 filings in 2026, manufacturing-led
Key takeaways
Lansing's workforce is shrinking faster than it's going unemployed.
June's 2.9% monthly drop in both employment and labor force -- the largest among Michigan metros -- means people are leaving the labor market, not just losing jobs. A stable unemployment rate built on a shrinking labor force is a weaker signal than it appears.
Manufacturing softness is concentrated, not metro-wide.
A 350-worker GM layoff notice in Lansing tracks a statewide pattern -- cyclical sectors like manufacturing are projected to lose roughly 16,300 Michigan jobs in 2026 while non-cyclical sectors add about 19,500. Commerce leaders should weight sector exposure before reading any single headline number as whole-economy distress.
Wage gains in professional roles outpace the metro's weak jobs backdrop.
Advertised pay for accountants, financial analysts, and data engineers posted significant local increases even as overall employment contracted, suggesting skilled-services demand is holding independent of the manufacturing downturn. That divergence is a more useful read on business climate than the aggregate unemployment rate.
Public-sector stability may be doing more work than it gets credit for.
Michigan's non-cyclical sectors, including government and health care, are projected to add jobs this year even as manufacturing contracts, and Lansing's concentration of state government and university employment likely provides a buffer other Michigan metros lack. That structural advantage is worth factoring into any regional comparison of economic resilience.
Median advertised pay by role — Lansing-East Lansing, MI MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $25,673 | $31,443 | $35,579 | Moderate increase | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $26,125 | $30,394 | $32,198 | Stable | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $31,780 | $37,618 | $41,600 | Moderate decline | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $59,600 | $75,790 | $85,500 | Moderate decline | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $29,186 | $32,862 | $38,078 | Moderate decline | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $31,732 | $39,520 | $41,600 | Stable | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $55,917 | $70,241 | $77,771 | Stable | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $31,360 | $36,032 | $39,364 | Moderate increase | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $34,465 | $38,925 | $42,880 | Moderate decline | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $26,520 | $29,923 | $32,240 | Stable | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $32,593 | $38,480 | $44,348 | Moderate decline | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $30,402 | $39,998 | $44,647 | Stable | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician | $59,846 | $61,000 | $64,719 | Stable | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $80,511 | $97,013 | $103,969 | Moderate increase | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer | $120,570 | $154,998 | $172,092 | Stable | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer | $99,179 | $140,542 | $159,113 | Significant increase | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $59,422 | $71,586 | $79,680 | Significant increase | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst | $71,895 | $90,997 | $102,804 | Significant increase | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $54,000 | $79,466 | $86,127 | Significant increase | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist | $43,365 | $57,500 | $70,334 | Moderate increase | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager | $60,000 | $69,304 | $73,949 | Significant decline | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $47,261 | $60,572 | $64,560 | Significant increase | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $63,357 | $95,503 | $117,334 | Significant increase | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $48,388 | $65,000 | $80,378 | Stable | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $72,360 | $93,292 | $105,462 | Significant increase | $98,279 |
* State-level figure shown where metro postings were too few.
WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings (reported as the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay). Download: CSV · JSON
Industry snapshot
| Sector | Median advertised pay | Pay trend | Postings trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | $87,500 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $109,163 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $68,731 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $65,588 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Information | $135,000 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $109,900 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $87,500 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $71,561 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $33,862 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Government | $66,370 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Lansing-East Lansing's labor market contracted sharply in mid-2026, with employment and labor force each falling 2.9% over the month in June -- the steepest decline among Michigan metros -- and July data confirmed continued workforce shrinkage rather than a rebound. A 350-worker GM layoff notice filed in Lansing in August, alongside statewide manufacturing softness, appears consistent with Michigan's broader pattern of cyclical-sector contraction even as the state's unemployment rate has held near 5.0%.
What it means
Workforce contraction concentrated in manufacturing, combined with a shrinking labor force rather than rising unemployment, signals underlying softness that headline rates mask -- a caution flag for commerce leaders weighing local expansion or investment timing. Public-sector and health care employment have proven comparatively stable statewide, suggesting the metro's institutional base (state government, universities, hospitals) may be cushioning what would otherwise be a sharper downturn. Current conditions suggest commerce and economic development leaders track labor force participation alongside the unemployment rate before drawing conclusions about local economic health.
Looking ahead
Potential inflection point: Official BLS September unemployment and payroll data for the Lansing MSA releases within the next two to three weeks. Watch whether June-July's labor force contraction reversed or deepened -- a continued decline would confirm a structural rather than seasonal pattern.
Worth watching: Additional WARN notices in manufacturing and transportation/logistics, sectors already accounting for most of Michigan's 2026 filings, would signal whether Lansing's GM-linked layoff is isolated or part of a broader regional pullback.
Early indicator: National wage growth has slowed to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation, the weakest real-wage position since 2021. Whether Lansing's locally strong gains in professional and skilled-services pay (accounting, analytics, nursing) hold against that national headwind will shape consumer spending capacity metro-wide.
Emerging pressure point: Michigan's minimum wage rises to $15.00 on January 1, 2027. Retailers and hospitality operators in the metro, already showing flat-to-declining advertised pay in cashier and food service roles, face a compressed runway to plan for the increase.
Methodology
Advertised pay from active employer job postings, not survey data. WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings: distribution analysis shows roughly the lowest 10% of raw values are erroneous entries, so the reported median is the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay. WageScape observes 98% of U.S. job openings daily.
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