When Alison Norris couldn't find work in Detroit, she searched past city limits, ending up with a part-time restaurant job 20 miles away, which takes at least two hours to get to using public transportation. Norris has to take two buses to her job at a suburban mall in Troy, Michigan, using separate city and suburban bus systems. For many city residents with limited skills and education, Detroit is an employment desert, having lost tens of thousands of blue-collar jobs in manufacturing cutbacks and service jobs as the population dwindled. Mayor Mike Duggan, however, has made rebuilding the population and creating jobs and training programs some of Detroit's priorities now that the city is out of bankruptcy. Scroll down for video . Alison Norris, 26, pictured on February 12, catches at least two buses during a two-hour, one-way commute from Detroit to her restaurant hostess job in the city's northern suburbs . Norris is among many Detroit residents without cars who often must travel long distances for low-paying positions in customer service or sales far outside the central city. Norris says there are too few jobs in the city . But those jobs may not materialize quickly enough for Norris and others who've found local prospects slim, and the lack of reliable public transit is an obstacle that's driving even those who've stuck it out to consider leaving. 'There no jobs in Detroit,' said Norris, 26, waiting in 16-degree temperatures for the first of two buses to the Somerset Collection mall in Troy, where she makes $8.25 an hour as a bistro hostess. 'If it's no jobs, then why stay in the city?' said Norris. 'There is nothing here.' The city's unemployment rate, which hit 25 per  cent in 2009, stood at 14.9 per cent last year, state figures show, compared to a regional rate below 7 per cent. Many residents without cars — about 40 per cent of Detroit's population, according to federal figures — often enter low-paying retail or sales positions far outside the city. The number of Detroit residents who work outside the city is nearly double the number with jobs inside the city, according to statistics from regional planning organization Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMGOC). More than 228,000 Detroit residents commute beyond the city limits, while only about 115,000 people who live in Detroit also work in the city, SEMCOG says. Inner-ring suburbs are the primary work destinations for Detroit residents. But several thousand, like Norris, make longer odysseys. 'The city of Detroit has been on hard times for a while, and there aren't as many jobs in the city as I'm sure the city will like,' said Carmine Palombo, SEMCOG's deputy executive director. 'Mayor Duggan is working on that. But for right now, there are a lot of jobs — and some of the lower paying jobs — in the suburbs that people from the city are trying to fill,' Palombo said. Part of the problem is getting there. The Motor City, built largely on the auto ownership dream, tore up its streetcar system in the 1950s. The city today has no subway or tram system outside a 3-mile elevated loop that serves only downtown. And while construction has begun on a light rail, it will connect only the thriving downtown and Midtown areas, not reach into the hardest-hit neighborhoods. As its financial state worsened, Detroit had reduced bus service on some routes and eliminated others. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has said that his priorities for Detroit are rebuilding the population and creating jobs and training programs. The population of Detroit has decreased to 680,000 from 1.8million in the 1950s . A regional transportation system — separate from Detroit's and primarily serving the suburbs — also has struggled with funding. Newspapers across the U.S. reported on 56-year-old James Robertson earlier this month, who said he walked 21 miles to and from his factory job in the suburbs after his car failed and bus service was cut back. The Detroiter received a $350,000 from a GoFundMe campaign and a new Ford Taurus after his plight received national media attention. The bus routes still provide a cobbled-together lifeline for those like Norris, who said she'd prefer to work in Detroit. Her desire to one day move closer to where the jobs are collides with Duggan's hopes to spur growth in the city, whose population has fallen to 680,000 from a high of 1.8million in the 1950s. 'There are a lot of people trying to rely on public transportation to get them to a job,' Palombo said. 'What you tend to see is... people move out along with the jobs. It's that movement of households.' Duggan has said Detroit is working on training programs to prepare residents for skilled jobs in the city. James Robertson, 56, was highlighted earlier this month as a Detroiter who worked outside the city. He walked 21 miles to and from work every day because he couldn't afford a car . After a GoFundMe site was set up for Robertson, people from around the world raised more than $350,000 for him and he was eventually given a new Ford Taurus . The fire department will help high school students receive paramedic and firefighting certifications, and the police department is working on a similar program. The mayor said half the jobs on an entertainment complex and hockey arena, most initially construction work, will go to city residents. 'It helps a lot if we can get the jobs located nearby,' said Duggan, who also announced earlier this year that the city would get 80 new buses and launch a mobile app for the system. One new business, Detroit Manufacturing Systems, is working with the city on bus times to accommodate employee schedules, said owner Andra Rush. Entry-level workers making auto interiors earn $11 an hour plus benefits. The company has hired nearly 1,000 workers, including 300 over the past few months, and more than half the new hires live in Detroit. That's no accident. 'By hiring Detroiters, we help Detroit,' said Rush. Michigan Economic Development Corp.'s new Community Ventures program is also working to create jobs for residents, according to the Detroit Free Press. The company has created a model for worker retraining programs that helps structurally unemployed workers learn new skills. Detroit Manufacturing Systems (pictured) is working with the city's public transportation services to accommodate employees. More than half of the 1,000 new hires for the company are Detroit residents .
Detroit resident Alison Norris, 26, has to take two separate bus systems to get to her $8.25-an-hour job in a suburb 20 miles from her home . For many residents with limited skills and education, Detroit is lacking jobs . Many residents, like Norris, travel miles outside the city for work . But lack of public transportation in metro-Detroit makes for long commutes . Mayor Mike Duggan said he has made rebuilding the city's population and creating jobs and training programs priority .