Ann Arbor-area unemployment rate falls to 5 percent as labor force grows
Unemployment rates in Ann Arbor fell sharply in September to 5 percent, according to a report by the Michigan Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives.
The report cited seasonal public sector education jobs added as students returned to school as a major factor in the number of employed Ann Arbor residents.
Unemployment rates dropped across the state, with Lansing’s rate falling to 6.2 percent and the statewide rate dipping to 8.2 percent, a full percentage point below August’s rate and 1.6 percent lower than a year ago.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Smaller labor forces, a side effect of people giving up looking for jobs, are often seen as a qualifier when unemployment goes down. However, Ann Arbor added 600 to the labor force in September and 3,400 year-over-year for a 1 percent increase.
Ann Arbor added 5,300 net jobs in September, but according to the report, state-government related education jobs including hiring by local universities accounted for nearly 90 percent of new jobs created. Most other sectors saw month-over-month job losses, including a loss of 700 jobs in the professional and business services sector.
Public sector jobs were the primary success story in the month-over-month data, and they also showed a 2,000-job increase over September 2011. That jump accounted for two-thirds of the jobs created in the past year in Ann Arbor. The other major growth sector, despite its poor performance in September, was professional and business services.
Retail also saw a slight bump of 200 jobs in September as stores start to hire for the holiday season and manufacturing was up 100 jobs, but leisure and hospitality services dropped 500 jobs on the month.
Ann Arbor’s unemployment rate has been in steady decline since peaking in 2008, according to the economic outlook for Washtenaw County prepared for AnnArbor.com by economists George Fulton and Donald Grimes. The continued drop to 5 percent actually outpaces their forecast for 2012 unemployment.
Ben Freed covers business for AnnArbor.com. You can sign up here to receive Business Review updates every week. Reach out to Ben at 734-623-2528 or email him at benfreed@annarbor.com. Follow him on twitter @BFreedinA2
Comments
Michigan Man
Sat, Oct 27, 2012 : 3:02 p.m.
Mark Ouimet and Rick Snyder getting it done in fine fashion for the residents of Ann Arbor!
Mike
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 9:58 p.m.
"Public sector jobs were the primary success story in the month-over-month data, and they also showed a 2,000-job increase over September 2011" Public sector jobs work like this.....you collect enough taxes from enough taxpayers to hire one public service employee and then they pay taxes. So if it taxes 15 taxpayers to fund one public sector job the taxpayers get 1/15th of their "investment" back for creating that governement job. Many of those jobs also raise revenue in the form of fees, taxes, and penalties of some sort which drag the economy down even more. And we wonder why the country is in as bad of shape as it is and why tuition is so expensive. Time for real change followed by hope again........................think about this when you vote and if this is what you want to leave for your kids and grand-kids
Linda Peck
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 9:29 p.m.
It is obvious we are on an upward swing. Real estate sales are very hot right now, too. We had hardly a downward swing at all.
CynicA2
Sat, Oct 27, 2012 : 4:53 a.m.
Real estate sales are always better here - from the time it stops snowing in the spring, until it starts again in the fall/winter. There are still a lot of empty/abandoned homes around town - I know of a couple in my area empty since '05-'06.
DonBee
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 6:07 p.m.
If I had to guess, much of this comes from Charter schools signing contracts with teachers and other staff for the school year. More from the various universities offering school year jobs to people in food service and other areas (including some lecturers I would assume). It is the typical fall start up. What I find interesting digging deep on the BLS site is that the "adjustment" amounts are much lower for this year than they have been in the past - normally they decrease the jobs numbers in this month because of the seasonal uptick that is normal. I have to wonder - are they playing with the numbers? The raw BLS U-6 number is far more useful in my mind, because no one is playing with it. Right now for Michigan that number is 17 percent. Nevada, Oregon and Washington state have higher U-6s we are #4 tied with North Carolina.
Ben Freed
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 6:24 p.m.
Don, Just so you know, the numbers used here from the Michigan Bureau of Labor Market Information and Statistics are not seasonally adjusted.
StopCrying
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 4:35 p.m.
Apparently Camp "Take Notice" has failed to live up to their name in this situation.
StopCrying
Mon, Oct 29, 2012 : 2:33 p.m.
My source is annarbor.com constantly talking about how they haven't yet found a house let alone a job.
ThinkingOne
Sat, Oct 27, 2012 : 2:26 p.m.
Apparently you have some inside knowledge that the former Camp Take Notice residents are not finding jobs. Perhaps you could share with us the source of this knowledge, as it certainly does not seem to be in this article.
bobslowson
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 4:48 p.m.
Still bashing the homeless? Very classy of you...
Rob Pollard
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 3:03 p.m.
"Ann Arbor added 5,300 net jobs in September, but according to the report, state-government related education jobs...accounted for nearly 90 percent of new jobs created. Most other sectors saw month-over-month job losses, including a loss of 700 jobs in the professional and business services sector." When are those jobs that were the reason behind the Snyder-led tax cuts for businesses going to occur - or was that just a smoke screen? They have the money as a result of the tax cuts -- now where are the jobs they promised?
smokeblwr
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 2:45 p.m.
So is this Obama-Style Unemployment where people stopped filing for benefits or is Snyder-Style where the Job Creators are trickling their benevolence down upon us?
Ben Freed
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 4:10 p.m.
As noted in the article, the growing labor force would seem to indicate that this is not the case of people who are no longer filing, but with the increase in jobs attributed mostly to government funded programs it also would seem that "Job Creators" are not as responsible for this uptick either. The best answer to this question might just be that neither is the case here.
Ghost of Tom Joad
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 3:02 p.m.
depends on your partisan lens.
gofigure
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 2:42 p.m.
"Unemployment rates dropped across the state, with Lansing's rate falling to 6.2 percent and the statewide rate dipping to 8.2 percent, a full percentage point below August's rate and 1.6 percent lower than a year ago." How much of that is due to people finding jobs or is it because they've reached the maximum # of benefits and no longer eligible? I would be interesting to see if as unemployment goes down, does applications for State Aid (medicaid, housing assistance, food 'stamps'....) rise.
CynicA2
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 4:41 p.m.
The "growing labor force" could also reflect previously discouraged workers (not seeking work) who have resumed looking for work, so they are, once again, counted. There are still lots of these folks out there, many of whom are too broke to leave the state to seek work elsewhere, although clearly many have left the state, as well.
Basic Bob
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 4:10 p.m.
Unemployment doesn't pay enough for most people to live for an extended period of time. After two years the retirement savings are depleted, the house is gone, and motivation increases to find gainful employment. While a few may extend their time on welfare, most are willing to take a lesser job or move out of state. The number of people working and getting paid under the table distorts all these figures.
Ben Freed
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 4:07 p.m.
That's an interesting question. As people drop off of unemployment benefits, if they do not continue seeking employment they are no longer part of the labor force. With a growing labor force, that would seem to indicate that more people are still in the job market rather than relying on government programs but that could be a very interesting trend to look into for a future article.
bobslowson
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 2:18 p.m.
We can all thank The University of Michigan for this good news....not Governor Snyder.
jim
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 2:08 p.m.
Where are all the governor-bashers? Sleeping in today?
jondhall
Sat, Oct 27, 2012 : 11:22 a.m.
Well you know they all have University jobs............. of course they are sleeping in or redeading this online.
Peter Baker
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 2:57 p.m.
Great news is great news.
Ghost of Tom Joad
Fri, Oct 26, 2012 : 2:43 p.m.
so when the economy grows it is because snyder is so great, but when it shrinks it's because obama is so terrible. partisan logic at its best.