State’s June Unemployment Rate Fourth Highest in U.S.—Ann Arbor Has Lost 20 Percent of IT Jobs
MICHIGAN’S seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in June was unchanged over the month at 7.5 percent, according to data released on July 16 by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget (DTMB). Total employment declined slightly in June while the number of unemployed edged upward. The net impact left the state’s labor force little changed over the month.
The Michigan jobless rate in June 2014 was one and four-tenths percentage points below the state’s June 2013 rate of 8.9 percent. The national jobless rate also decreased by one and four-tenths percentage points over this period. The state’s unemployment rate in June was one and four-tenths percentage points above the national rate of 6.1 percent. The U.S. jobless rate declined by two-tenths of a percentage point from May to June.
“Michigan has displayed solid payroll job gains over the past two months, with advances similar to the upward trend recorded in the second half of 2013” said Jason Palmer, director of the Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives. “Even though the state’s unemployment rate has been steady over the last four months, it has edged down since the first quarter.”
According to the monthly survey of employers, seasonally adjusted Michigan payroll jobs rose in June by 18,000 to total 4,141,000. Payroll job gains in June were concentrated in manufacturing (+7,000), professional and business services (+6,000), trade, transportation and utilities (+5,000), and education and health services (+3,000). Slightly offsetting these advances were job losses in construction (-2,000), and other services (-2,000). The state’s remaining major sectors recorded little change in June.
Along with manufacturing job gains, Michigan added 8,000 leisure and hospitality service jobs between June 2013 and June 2014. These are, generally, low-paying jobs.
In Ann Arbor, unemployment stands at 5.3 percent and between April and May the number of unemployed individuals rose 11 percent, from 9,000 to 10,000 individuals.
While manufacturing jobs grew state-wide, in Ann Arbor the industry that has added the most jobs over the course of the past 12 months was the leisure and hospitality industry. Over the past 12 months, the city has added 2,600 jobs in those industries, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
As of May 2014, Ann Arbor had 4,000 jobs in the Information and Technology industries, the same number of jobs it had in those industries in January 2014. Again, according to data from the BLS, Information and Technology job numbers in Ann Arbor have fallen over the past decade.
In June 2006, the BLS data show 4,800 IT jobs in Ann Arbor and in June 2014, there were 4,000 IT jobs, a loss of 20 percent of the area’s IT jobs over an eight year period.
“In June 2006, the BLS data show 4,800 IT jobs in Ann Arbor and in June 2014, there were 4,000 IT jobs, a loss of 20 percent of the area’s IT jobs over an eight year period”
Wow. And over the same time period, SPARK has a job projection number of over 17,000 jobs that were created/promised. (for those who are confused, SPARK had a job projection number of 13,000 but that job number was recently increased as they forgot to add the other 4,500 jobs that were projected from another portion of their business).