Washtenaw County's unemployment rises again as public school jobs decline
Washtenaw County's unemployment rate rose for the third consecutive month in July, according to statistics released today by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget.
The unemployment rate rose from 7.7 percent in June to 7.8 percent in July. It was down from 9.4 percent in July 2010. The rate hit a low of 6.2 percent as recently as April.
The number of jobs located in Washtenaw County slipped by 1,000 to 191,000, according to the state. Much of the decline was attributable to public schools, which cut 1,300 jobs from June to July, part of a normal season decline in their workforce. Private educators and health services companies cut 600 jobs.
The professional and business services sector added 600 jobs. Other major sectors were relatively stable for the month.
The number of employed county residents fell by 500 from June to July, and the local workforce — a measurement of the number of employed residents plus the number of unemployed residents who are looking for jobs — dropped by 200.
Michigan's unemployment rate rose from 11.0 percent in June to 11.9 percent in July. That was down from 13.2 percent a year earlier.
One contributor to the stubbornly high unemployment rate is a high jobless rate among young people.
The number of unemployed Americans ages 16 to 24 rose by 745,000 from April to July, up from 571,000 a year ago.
“This has been another summer of lost opportunities for our nation’s young people," Michael Saltsman, research fellow at the Employment Policies Institute, in a statement. "The combined impacts of the Great Recession and increases in the minimum wage in states and at the federal level have locked thousands out of the labor market."
Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.
Comments
outdoor6709
Sun, Aug 28, 2011 : 1:45 p.m.
Sorry, I should have said she made it worse. She passed a green energy mandate that will push up energy prices 20%. Michigan has the preception of a strong union state. She passed by executive order a requirement for self employed home care workrs to be forced to unionize. Later struck douwn by courts. Higher energy prices and more power to unions, and we wonder why jobs flee Michigan.
outdoor6709
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 9:41 p.m.
My suggstion is instead of blaming Lansing for the economic problems you take an economics class. Government does not create wealth it just takes from one person and gives it to another. For all of you that think more business taxes are the answer, take a look at Illinois. <a href="http://illinoispolicy.org/news/article.asp?ArticleSource=4362" rel='nofollow'>http://illinoispolicy.org/news/article.asp?ArticleSource=4362</a> For 8 years we had a governor that was a great politician, but in reality did not care about Michigan. Where is she now? Definately not living with the mess she failed to fix. She loved being powerful, but had no clue how to make Michigan a functioning state. Now we have someone who is trying something different. Time will tell which is the better approach.
Edward R Murrow's Ghost
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 10:51 p.m.
"For 8 years we had a governor that was a great politician, but in reality did not care about Michigan. Where is she now? Definately not living with the mess she failed to fix." She failed to fix? In her first term she had a Republican legislature. In her second term the state Senate was controlled by the Republicans. One presumes you understand that the governor can do only those things permitted her/him by the laws passed by the state legislature. So how much blame do you place on the Republican legislature that decided that there was political hay to be made by not cooperating with the governor. As for "taking an economics class," let me suggest that you will not find your "lesson" in any economics textbook. Google "Keynesian Economics". KE works really well if one runs budget surpluses when the economy is expanding. You know, the way Clinton did. Bush? Largest deficits in history, and that was BEFORE the economy collapsed in 2008. Good Night and Good Luck
russellr
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 5:03 p.m.
Maybe if they got rid of the 3-4 free massages they get a year free they could save some jobs. I'm all for the teachers but really do they need the massages???? Also just a FYI, Meijer is hireing but most people will NOT work for minimume wage to start off with. They make more money on unemployment. Some companies are hiring it's the wages they won't work for.
Edward R Murrow's Ghost
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 6:53 p.m.
BTW, thanks for confirming my post above: the people of Snyder's Plantation can expect that their future lies in working at WalMart and at Meijer's. No wonder our educated youth are fleeing the state like rats leaving the Titanic. Good Night and Good Luck
Edward R Murrow's Ghost
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 6:51 p.m.
"Also just a FYI, Meijer is hireing [sic] but most people will NOT work for minimume [sic] wage to start off with. They make more money on unemployment." Just an FYI: people "starting off" in their employment career do not qualify for unemployment. Just and FYI: Someone's unemployment is contingent on the pay they had received in their previous employment. It is usually 50-60% of their previous pay rate. Thus, if someone had been earning $14/hour or less, minimum wage is better than unemployment insurance. Just FYI. Good Night and Good Luck
WonderWoman
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 2:05 p.m.
How can you expect government employees to be protected from lay off and downsizing while Michigan has experienced a decrease in population? No one who works in private industry is protected from downsizing and lay offs. Example: the Willow Run manufacturing complex is completely shutdown. Presumably those employees have had to move out of state for jobs. When our federal government entered in free trade agreements, they also passed laws to provide unemployment benefits for those employees who they knew would lose their jobs. Those benefits are continually extended. Blame your Washington politicians who allowed this to happen. Michigan is dependent on the automotive industry; as those jobs leave the tax base has decreased. Those with businesses in Ann Arbor who ask us to support them by buying local..... should support this state by buying domestic vehicles, Ford, Chrylser GM.
Mr Blue
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 1:07 p.m.
Thank you Governor Snyder for adding to Michigan unemployment roles.
clownfish
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 12:59 p.m.
hmmm, funny...we have huge tax cuts from the feds, tax cuts for business from our governor, we have the wealthiest among us doing better than ever... Does Trickle Down economics not tell us that job growth should be accelerating? Why isn't the wealth trickling down? Trickle Down Theory: An economic theory which states that investing money in companies and giving them tax breaks is the best way to stimulate the economy The investment banks got their help from the govt, auto companies got theirs, the "investor class" got huge tax breaks under Bush and Obama, small business got tax breaks in the Stimulus Bill. If this theory actually worked we should be seeing job growth, but instead we see voodoo at work.
TinyArtist
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 12:34 p.m.
Fur Elise . . I do believe that xmo was employing sarcasm in his comment, and I am unanimous in that.
Edward R Murrow's Ghost
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 6:46 p.m.
Just both of him. Good Night and Good Luck
arborani
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 4:42 p.m.
All one of you? (Watch this get deleted.)
Stephen Lange Ranzini
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 11:16 a.m.
The article and the comments above could benefit from analysis of what is driving the jobs numbers in Michigan. Why did unemployment in Michigan fall in 2010 and early 2011? Why did start to rise in April? Michigan's economy is highly correlated to the national economy and the auto industry. After losing close to a million jobs from March 2000 to September 2009, Michigan gained about 55,000 jobs over the next 18 months as the auto industry's light car and truck production levels rose from a 9 million per year rate to a 13.1 million per year rate. However as the national economy slipped into recession in April 2011, auto sales have dropped to the 11.5 million per year rate in June and the progress in Michigan stopped and job losses have started to uptick. If you don't think the national economy is in recession again, just go read the Federal Reserve's statement from a week ago Tuesday where they all but announced one along with their new plan to guarantee that interest rates won't rise until bat least mid-2013.
Edward R Murrow's Ghost
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 6:45 p.m.
At a state and national level, the unemployment rate has been stagnant or going up for the last several months because the public sector is shedding jobs faster than the private sector can add them. And this policy has cost private sector jobs, as well (cuts in highway spending = cuts in construction jobs; cuts in defense spending = cuts in defense contractors). This is the predictable result of fiscal retrenchment at both levels of government, and there is no way that this policy leads to economic growth any time in the foreseeable future. Good Night and Good Luck
Stephen Lange Ranzini
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 4:19 p.m.
@Mr. Blue: My comment was not intended to take any side in the issue. Notice I did not criticize Governors Engler, Granholm or Snyder. I was just attempting to be informative and provide some facts which appear to be missing from those on both the R and D side of this discussion. Of course, and I agree with your comment that unemployment is a tragedy for all those involved, and in a small way I am trying to do my part to help entrepreneurs add jobs, one job at a time with loans.
Stephen Lange Ranzini
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 4:15 p.m.
Comment to @clownfish (continued) Now in my opinion, if national per capita income has declined for 11 or 14 years, that is a depression, & unfortunately, it's about to get worse. Lastly, 1Q2011 GDP growth numbers were revised down to 0.4% and 2Q2011 GDP growth this morning was revised down to 1.0%, and we haven't seen the last of the revisions. NBER usually don't "know" that we are in a recession until a year or so later when the final statistics come in.
Stephen Lange Ranzini
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 4:14 p.m.
@Clownfish: This item from the WSJ two weeks ago: "'Great Recession' even deeper than thought — The U.S. recession was even deeper than previously thought, a new government report showed on Friday. As part of an annual revision of data on U.S. gross domestic product, the Commerce Department said that the economy contracted by 5.1% between the fourth quarter of 2007 and the second quarter of 2009, more than the 4.1% previously estimated. It ranks as the most severe recession in the post-World War II era. As a result of the revision, GDP is now still below the pre-recession peak, economists said." A recent study noted that while personal income is rising in nominal terms it has continued to fall since 2000 through 2011, if you take out benefits, and only look at cash take home pay. I don't know about you, but I don't feel wealthier nor did the economy "grow" because an economist tells me that the value of my healthcare benefits (and related costs) went up a lot, so my per capita income went up! An "L" shaped recovery is in my opinion a "recession" or "depression", & a "V" shaped recovery that hasn't got back above where it started is a "recession". Last week, the IRS announced that according to an Internal Revenue Service analysis of 2009 tax returns, average income in 2009 fell to $54,283, down 6.1 percent from 2008 levels. In 2008, average income was $57,799, and it was $62,871 in 2007. So, it has declined 13.7 percent, or $8,588, compared with 2007. The IRS said average 2009 income was at its lowest level since 1997, when the average was $54,265 in 2009 dollars. See <a href="http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/indtaxstats/article/0,,id=134951,00.html#_sec1" rel='nofollow'>www.irs.gov/taxstats/indtaxstats/article/0,,id=134951,00.html#_sec1</a> The U.S. Census Bureau notes that per capita income peaked in 2000. See fn#42 cited at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United_States" rel='nofollow'>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United_States</a> ...continued...
Mr Blue
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 1:09 p.m.
Nice rationalization, Mr Ranzini. I'm sure that those who are now unemployed are reassured by your explanation.
clownfish
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 12:53 p.m.
GDP was about 1.8% in 1st quarter of 2011, that is not recession,it is slow growth. Recession is a technical term and has meaning.
Alan Goldsmith
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 10:42 a.m.
I'm confused. With all the kiss kiss media reporting in the run up to the election about SPARK and Rick Snyder's superhero powers to create jobs, LESS jobs seems like...I don't know...such a contradiction. Lol.
Jon Saalberg
Thu, Aug 25, 2011 : 10:11 p.m.
I certainly hope all those Granholm haters can move their slider from "D" to "R". There, as far as I've seen, not too much of a recovery going on in this state. And the lack of a recovery is only being exacerbated by red state policies such as attacking workers' benefits, and setting standards for teachers based on evaluations tied to test scores that have no bearing on kids' real world needs, instead of real world skill development. There will be a need to re-assess the wholly hostile attitude the gov and his super-majority legislature have towards educators, once our state starts experiencing teacher shortages, with teachers and recent education graduates leaving the state in droves.
Edward R Murrow's Ghost
Thu, Aug 25, 2011 : 9:34 p.m.
That's OK. Those school jobs aren't real jobs. They're just gubbiment jobs, and as everyone knows, they don't count. Welcome to Snyder's Plantation, where we call all aspire to be WalMart greeters and MacDonald's hamburger flippers. Good Night and Good Luck
elise
Thu, Aug 25, 2011 : 9:33 p.m.
xmo- Even with the 27 new hires, 63 teaching positions were lost. This will translate to bigger class size for all aged kids. So although this seems like good news, it didn't change the number of teachers lost.
jns131
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 1:26 p.m.
I really disagree with that tag, new hire. I think all it is is a rouse to disguise it as a resettling of what to do with the directors or other big wigs. Remember, they did that with the transportation director. Balase protects its own.
elise
Thu, Aug 25, 2011 : 11:30 p.m.
DonBee- Yes, teachers did retire. Looks like approximately 100 if they hired 27 new people and still cut 63 positions. The district did not lay off, but they did in fact cut 63 teaching positions. This means 63 less teachers in the schools, which means more kids per classroom. Perhaps it can be traced there but saying that doesn't make it any better for anyone. So, I guess I'm missing your point DonBee.
DonBee
Thu, Aug 25, 2011 : 10:26 p.m.
And most were retirements elise. As to the loss of teaching positions, much of it can be traced to the administrative overhead in the district.
xmo
Thu, Aug 25, 2011 : 9:21 p.m.
I am so glad that Ann Arbor Public schools hired 27 new employees this week. It shows that the Republicans really are helping the State! How else could Ann Arbor hire so many new employees? (The new hire story ran a few Days ago.)
jns131
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 1:20 p.m.
Pioneer High School sent parents notices that they are operating at a reduced staff this year. So if you need something? You might have to wait a day or two. 27 new positions. I wonder if they created these positions because they had no where else to put these people. They did with that transportation director. Custodial I believe is where they created his position at.
sh1
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 3:26 a.m.
That does not mean 27 new positions were created. Staff numbers are still below last year.
baitm
Thu, Aug 25, 2011 : 9:08 p.m.
send your thank you cards to republican lawmakers and the nerd governor. happy new school year to all. i have never seen so many layoffs in my 19years. not just teachers but any school employee position is gutted overcrowdimg and scarce supplies are here to stay with republicans in control. as education bleeds i hope voters are happy. be careful what you wish for. the future students will be making choices about the older generation and who can blame them for being as generous as we have been. enjoy michigan. when is november?
jns131
Fri, Aug 26, 2011 : 1:17 p.m.
I hate to think of New Yorks lay off notices to the public school workers. 777 have now lost their jobs. Sad to think this was an honorable job.