Detroit area's jobless rate falls - Michigan's lowest since 2001

**Lowell** · March-10-16, 04:13 PM

The good news keeps coming as Michigan's unemployment rate now matches the national rate. What a change since the hopeless days of 2008-9. Is your life/business better since those days? Mine sure is.

"LANSING — Michigan's monthly unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest point in nearly 15 years, the state said Wednesday.

The Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget said the seasonally adjusted jobless rate for January was 4.9 percent. That's down two-tenths of a percentage point from December and 1.1 percentage points below the January 2015 rate.

The Detroit-Warren-Dearborn Metropolitan Statistical Area's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in January decreased by two-tenths of a percentage point to 5.9 percent. January marked the first monthly jobless rate reduction in the area since August, although the region’s rates were fairly steady over the ensuing months.

Metro Detroit's jobless rate fell by a full percentage point January 2015 to January 2016. The Detroit area’s workforce grew by 14,000 or 0.7 percent over this period."

Full article at Crain's Detroit Business >>

**SammyS** · March-10-16, 07:51 PM

I know of a many engineers that left for good during the GFC. That has led to the Great Michigan Engineer Bonanza of the Century that has lasted ever since.

**belleislerunner** · March-11-16, 07:59 AM

If we think just back six years to 2010 when Granholm left office we had unemployment at 15%, led the country in foreclosures and were largely written off as a failed state.

What Snyder and Lansing have been able to do in six years is nothing short of a miracle. Unemployment has dropped from 15% to under 5%, housing prices are up across the state, unemployment in Detroit itself is the lowest in six years, Detroit has been able to go in and out of bankruptcy shedding billions in legacy costs. Flint water will be solved within a year. He will definitely go down as one of the best governor's we've ever had. Couldn't be more proud to be from Detroit and Michigan than I've ever been!

**Bham1982** · March-11-16, 08:49 AM

Originally Posted by belleislerunner

What Snyder and Lansing have been able to do in six years is nothing short of a miracle.

Has nothing to do with Lansing or Snyder. Michigan is completely tied to the auto industry, so it's feast or famine. Auto sales and profits are at all-time highs, so obviously Michigan thrives. When there's a recession [[and it will happen), Michigan will suffer.

Michigan's relative success has almost nothing to do with politicans, land use planning, public transportation, taxation policies, efforts at fixing Detroit, etc. but for some reason people are always ascribing these factors to Michigan's relative economic trends. Michigan is still the auto capitol of the planet and completely dependent on auto profits for prosperity.

IMO Snyder has been a pretty piss-poor governor, and has taken the state on the wrong path, but, again, the governor can't really affect macro trends like global auto sales/profits.

**belleislerunner** · March-11-16, 09:48 AM

Metro Detroit is home to Quicken Loans, the nation's largest online retail lender and the second largest retail lender in the entire United States. Financial services sector.

Metro Detroit is home to Flagstar Bank, Talmer Bank and other publicly traded mulit billion dollar banks. Financial services sector.

Metro Detroit is home to Little Caesar's, Hungry Howies and Domino's [[A2). Some of the largest pizza chains in the entire world.

Metro Detroit is home to Sun Communities, one of the largest publicly traded REIT's and RHP Properties, the nation's largest private owner/operator of MH communities across the country. It's home to RAMCO, Agree Realty and number others real estate sector leaders.

Metro Detroit also has many auto suppliers, auto manufacturers etc and those in the supply chain process. We don't apologize for that. We embrace it.

You should consider living here. You'd learn we're not as single focused as some might think.

**southen** · March-11-16, 10:23 AM

Snyder's magic touch must have lifted up the rest of the country in that same time period too! Probably only a coincidence that the trend has been country wide... Nice to see that you listed him solving the Flint water crisis as an accomplishment. Might we see other politicians negligently poison people then take credit for fixing the issue now? It apparently won you over.

**Honky Tonk** · March-11-16, 10:37 AM

Originally Posted by southen

Snyder's magic touch must have lifted up the rest of the country in that same time period too! Probably only a coincidence that the trend has been country wide... Nice to see that you listed him solving the Flint water crisis as an accomplishment. Might we see other politicians negligently poison people then take credit for fixing the issue now? It apparently won you over.

I think it has to do with the fact that he totally obliterated incentives for and ended MI's movie industry, transferred those incentives to corporations instead, and all those thousands of new industries flocked to MI. Yeah, that's it.......

**belleislerunner** · March-11-16, 10:54 AM

Incentives for movies was a terrible idea.

**Honky Tonk** · March-11-16, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by belleislerunner

Incentives for movies was a terrible idea. I love the movie industry, but that was a bad deal for Michigan taxpayers.

Maybe, but it sure employed a lot of laid-off carpenters, painters, designers, drivers, etc. Those people spend the money they earn. I wouldn't have minded if he replaced it with something else, but I don't see many other opportunities, unless you count the temporary construction jobs @ Ilitch's Coliseum.

**Lowell** · March-11-16, 11:10 AM

Please. Snyder [and Michigan] was a beneficiary of federal action led by the Obama administration that saved GM and Chrysler. He came into office just as it was taking effect and had nothing to do with it. Many in his party including their 2012 candidate "Let Detroit [the American auto industry] Go Bankrupt." Mitt Romney opposed the bail out.

Imagine Detroit without the auto industry bailout. GM Renaissance Center abandoned. Chrysler Auburn Hills abandoned. Warren Tech Center gone. Factories boarded up. At least 150,000 middle and upper income jobs metro Detroit area lost. And that's not even considering thousands of small parts makers or all the other businesses supported by those lost jobs.

All the Pizza kings and Dan Gilbert's couldn't put that Humpty back together again.

**Bham1982** · March-11-16, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by Lowell

Please. Snyder [and Michigan] was a beneficiary of federal action led by the Obama administration that saved GM and Chrysler.

The Right and Left love to decry the Wall Street bailout [[Trump and Sanders supporters alike) yet you could hardly find an economist who agrees.

The bailout [[which included the GM/Chrysler/auto supplier bailout) was about the best thing coming out of Washington in decades, and Obama and Congress should be lauded for ignoring the populists on both sides of the political spectrum. It was a raging success and actually made the govt. considerable money [[because the repayment terms were quite punitive, meaning banks were paying back megabillions).

Just compare the U.S. response to the economic crisis with that of Europe. They're in basically a permanent funk, and the U.S. economy is the envy of the developed world.

**mwilbert** · March-11-16, 11:43 AM

In the long run, quality of government and governmental policies are very important, but in the short-run, they have only marginal effects unless they are catastrophically stupid.

We can give Snyder credit for mostly not doing anything catastrophically stupid; although obviously the handling of the Flint situation was pretty stupid, it isn't important in a statewide sense. I wouldn't give him credit for much beyond that--the economic cycle is what it is. I think the decision to do the EM/bankruptcy for Detroit was a necessary thing that probably wouldn't have been done until it was really too late by a Democratic governor, so I'd give him some credit for that, and a reviving Detroit is probably a big enough thing to eventually be economically significant for the state as a whole, even though it isn't yet. Check back in a decade.

417deer · March-11-16, 08:44 PM

$15 per hour NOW is what is supported by many instead of more jobs.

http://15now.org/

**313WX** · March-11-16, 10:28 PM

You all should feel ashamed for coming in here and shoving facts all up in people's face!!!

Originally Posted by Bham1982

Has nothing to do with Lansing or Snyder. Michigan is completely tied to the auto industry, so it's feast or famine. Auto sales and profits are at all-time highs, so obviously Michigan thrives. When there's a recession [[and it will happen), Michigan will suffer.

Michigan's relative success has almost nothing to do with politicans, land use planning, public transportation, taxation policies, efforts at fixing Detroit, etc. but for some reason people are always ascribing these factors to Michigan's relative economic trends. Michigan is still the auto capitol of the planet and completely dependent on auto profits for prosperity.

IMO Snyder has been a pretty piss-poor governor, and has taken the state on the wrong path, but, again, the governor can't really affect macro trends like global auto sales/profits.

Originally Posted by southen

Snyder's magic touch must have lifted up the rest of the country in that same time period too! Probably only a coincidence that the trend has been country wide... Nice to see that you listed him solving the Flint water crisis as an accomplishment. Might we see other politicians negligently poison people then take credit for fixing the issue now? It apparently won you over.

Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

Maybe, but it sure employed a lot of laid-off carpenters, painters, designers, drivers, etc. Those people spend the money they earn. I wouldn't have minded if he replaced it with something else, but I don't see many other opportunities, unless you count the temporary construction jobs @ Ilitch's Coliseum.

Originally Posted by Lowell

Please. Snyder [and Michigan] was a beneficiary of federal action led by the Obama administration that saved GM and Chrysler. He came into office just as it was taking effect and had nothing to do with it. Many in his party including their 2012 candidate "Let Detroit [the American auto industry] Go Bankrupt." Mitt Romney opposed the bail out.

Imagine Detroit without the auto industry bailout. GM Renaissance Center abandoned. Chrysler Auburn Hills abandoned. Warren Tech Center gone. Factories boarded up. At least 150,000 middle and upper income jobs metro Detroit area lost. And that's not even considering thousands of small parts makers or all the other businesses supported by those lost jobs.

All the Pizza kings and Dan Gilbert's couldn't put that Humpty back together again.

**313WX** · March-11-16, 10:38 PM

As a side-bar rant somewhat related to the topic, it still pisses me off that the redneck / uber-conservative UAW workers who probably supported the Right-to-Work legislation and also re-elected Snyder and the legislatures who supported the bill also got those $5,000 to $10,000 bonus checks back in February.

They hate and want no part of the union who fought to get them those bonus checks, but I'm quite sure they didn't turn down that money either.

**brizee** · March-11-16, 11:22 PM

Originally Posted by belleislerunner

If we think just back six years to 2010 when Granholm left office we had unemployment at 15%, led the country in foreclosures and were largely written off as a failed state.

What Snyder and Lansing have been able to do in six years is nothing short of a miracle. Unemployment has dropped from 15% to under 5%, housing prices are up across the state, unemployment in Detroit itself is the lowest in six years, Detroit has been able to go in and out of bankruptcy shedding billions in legacy costs. Flint water will be solved within a year. He will definitely go down as one of the best governor's we've ever had. Couldn't be more proud to be from Detroit and Michigan than I've ever been!

**emu steve** · March-12-16, 01:45 AM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

The Right and Left love to decry the Wall Street bailout [[Trump and Sanders supporters alike) yet you could hardly find an economist who agrees.

The bailout [[which included the GM/Chrysler/auto supplier bailout) was about the best thing coming out of Washington in decades, and Obama and Congress should be lauded for ignoring the populists on both sides of the political spectrum. It was a raging success and actually made the govt. considerable money [[because the repayment terms were quite punitive, meaning banks were paying back megabillions).

Just compare the U.S. response to the economic crisis with that of Europe. They're in basically a permanent funk, and the U.S. economy is the envy of the developed world.

I completely agree.

I sincerely believe that without such action we were headed for Great Depression. II.

Folks in Congress and the Fed learned from the Great Depression. Saw on CNBC that the bull market is 7 years old and prices [[don't know which index) is up 192% from the March 2009 lows.

**emu steve** · March-12-16, 01:52 AM

The biggest problem I see with employment is partially globalization but also productivity brought about by IT, robots, etc.

more cars are being made elsewhere AND it also takes less human hours to build a car, regardless where it is built.

it is like automation changes of generations ago.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · March-12-16, 05:35 AM

Originally Posted by belleislerunner

If we think just back six years to 2010 when Granholm left office we had unemployment at 15%, led the country in foreclosures and were largely written off as a failed state.

What Snyder and Lansing have been able to do in six years is nothing short of a miracle. Unemployment has dropped from 15% to under 5%, housing prices are up across the state, unemployment in Detroit itself is the lowest in six years, Detroit has been able to go in and out of bankruptcy shedding billions in legacy costs. Flint water will be solved within a year. He will definitely go down as one of the best governor's we've ever had. Couldn't be more proud to be from Detroit and Michigan than I've ever been!

Please...Snyder IS not and WILL not go down as one the best governor's ever in Mich, who are you kidding? Snyder didn't bring Michigan back. Obama should get most of the credit, for bailing out the auto industry, which is this state's bloodline, but of course he just gets blamed for just about anything else. Everything else was going to bounce back eventually anyway over time. Snyder's tenure as governor outside of helping Detroit rinse it's debt, is shady at best, and his ideology of running state government like a business is wrong, just ask Flint.

417deer · March-12-16, 07:54 AM

Originally Posted by 313WX

You all should feel ashamed for coming in here and shoving facts all up in people's face!!!

Another fact is as follows,

There will most likely be yet another Snyder pro business victory next November, unless an internet petition is signed by most of the people in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb county to change the RTA funding proposal to best benefit everyone first.

Please comment to get link if interested in signing or challenging.

**BankruptcyGuy** · March-12-16, 04:49 PM

Detroit is tied to the auto industry, yes.
Florida is tied to tourism.
NYC is tied to Wall Street.
LA is tied to the movie industry.
Houston is tied to oil/energy.

I don't understand for the life of me why people brush off Detroit's success as due to the success of their major industry. Of course. But so are the other examples as well.

On the topic of Snyder, wouldn't the test of who should get credit [[side note: who cares?) depend on how Michigan fared in comparison to other states [[who are also under Obama's umbrella)?

http://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/d...es/ro5xg02.htm

**Towne Cluber** · March-12-16, 06:00 PM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

It...actually made the govt. considerable money [[because the repayment terms were quite punitive, meaning banks were paying back megabillions).

I was [[and still am) in favor of the auto bailout, however, this is completely inaccurate. The government lost billions of dollars on it. As a side note, Bush [[1/3) also deserves "presidential credit" for it [[with Obama getting 2/3).