Report: Michigan To Gain Jobs Next Year
A new report out Friday says Michigan will gain jobs in 2011 -- something that hasn't happened in more than a decade. University of Michigan economists predict the state will add about 24,000 jobs next year before the economy starts to gather strength and adds 63,000 jobs during 2012.
Michigan has lost 850,000 jobs since 2000, and economists say the state;s economy has finally hit bottom.
"It is our sense that we are now approaching the turning point from negative to positive net job creation," said George Fulton, director of U-M's Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics.
Despite the new jobs, the report says unemployment will remain high and above 11-percent through 2012.
"An upward turn in the state macroeconomy has been long-awaited and would be welcome news, indeed, but we must keep in mind that the event will not usher in a changing tide for many of Michigan's struggling residents," Fulton said.
"With high rates of unemployment and home foreclosures persisting, for many among us the economic distress will continue," he said.
Fulton says Michigan can expect to see many of thee new jobs in the business services, private education, health and service industries.
We'll likely also recoup lost jobs in manufacturing.
"The most encouraging development in the Michigan economy in the past year is the apparent return to stability of a manufacturing sector whose work force has been decimated in recent years," Fulton said. "At the core of this improvement is the bounce-back in the domestic auto industry, which will be in the black this year, two years after seeking federal aid."
Overall, the U-M study says the Michigan economy appears headed toward the closest thing to job stability since the mid-2000s.
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