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Great news if you are actually willing to work here in Michigan, there appears to be a big upswing in employment

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, jobs in Michigan has grown in every job sector since 2009.  In fact Michigan companies have created 576,000 jobs since 2009.  The only job sector that has not created jobs is education, which lost 1,900 jobs and government which has lost 37,200 jobs over that same period.

The job sectors that has created the most opportunities are as follows:

  • Professional and business services: 172,000
  • Manufacturing sector: 164,800
  • Health care and social assistance: 62,000
  • Leisure and hospitality: 53,800 jobs
  • Finance 27,000
  • Construction 26,500
  • Information sector: 3,700
  • “Other services”: 1,000
  • Mining/logging: 200

The Michigan Capitol Confidential new site asked an economic expert why he believes Michigan has created so many jobs.  In their article Gary Wolfram, a professor of economics and public policy at Hillsdale College, believes it is Michigan’s tax policy.  He is quoted in the article stating:

Michigan’s tax structure was greatly improved by the elimination of the Michigan Single Business Tax and its replacement with the corporate income tax.  There has been much more certainty with regard to the state’s tax policy in the last six years than there was during the Granholm administration. Of course, the national recovery has had a benefit, particularly for the manufacturing industry.

Dr. Wolfram also gave us a reason why he believes there were a few job losses in the education and government sector, he is quoted in the article stating:

It is useful to put the job numbers in perspective, as total nonfarm employment is 4.4 million.  The loss in education is probably due to a decline in public school enrollment of 72,000 students over the time period. The number of government employees in July 2016 is still 601,500, so a drop of 37,000 is still quite small.

Some more good news is that Governor Snyder’s effort to promote the skilled trades in Michigan may be working.  There are a growing number of job opportunities in the skilled trades.

As I wrote yesterday in one of my commentary pieces this increase in jobs is responsible for a tightening job market which may lead to increase in wages.  In fact Meijer’s new contract which increased wages for 28,000 of their employee’s, was attributed to the tightening job market as stated by the president of Local 951 of the United Food and Commercial Workers who was quoted stating:

It’s a very competitive market for workers right now.

Let us hope that this trend continues and all job sectors in Michigan can continue to thrive and increase the wages for all of us.

Let’s talk about this today on The Live with Renk Show which airs Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to noon. To let me know your thoughts during the show please call (269) 441-9595.

Or please feel free to start a discussion and write your thoughts in the comment section.

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