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Michigan Showing Bright Spots in Job Trends Despite Soft Growth

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Summary: The state of Michigan has been displaying some bright spots in its job trends despite soft growth of late. 

An economist from Deloitte LLP said that some of the jobs being added by Michigan show above average appeal, according to Crain’s Detroit Business. The economist said this despite Michigan falling behind the national average in jobs growth and wage increases for the past two years.

Patricia Buckley is the director for economic policy and analysis for Deloitte.

Buckley noted that the state came in on the list in the middle third for U.S. states with job growth as a whole. She also said that the state shows hiring trends that are promising. These trends have been seen in the sector of professional and business services.

From July of 2012 to three months ago, the state of Michigan experienced 3.8 percent total employment growth and 3.8 percent total wage growth, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“From this data you can’t be sure, but the fact that manufacturing employment in Michigan … is also up 30,000 jobs over the (same period), suggests that some of that wage growth in professional services is the comeback of the auto industry,” she said.

“Because unlike 30 years ago, where a lot of manufacturing sector jobs were those doing the manufacturing, now if you’ve got IT services, payroll, and HR, these things (can) get counted as professional services.”

The top industries for growth in Michigan were leisure and hospitality jobs along with the segment mentioned above.

Lisa Katz, the executive director for the Workforce Intelligence Network for Southeast Michigan, said, “I can vouch for the fact that, in Michigan, we know engineering and IT job openings have been topping the charts for employer demand. But as a secondary factor, we have more 1099 workers (self-employed or independent non-employee) contractual workers in technical professions and those spaces in Michigan, which could be affecting how some (jobs) figures get counted.”

Michigan Showing Bright Spots in Job Trends Despite Soft Growth by
Authored by: Harrison Barnes