Michigan, Ohio labor markets still struggling to recover

Liana Fox, The Economic Policy Institute; Michael Ettlinger, The Economic Policy Institute

Since November 2001, the end of the most recent recession, the economy has created more than 7 million new jobs — increasing employment by more than 5 percent. Although this growth is not especially strong relative to past recoveries, and weak wage growth shows that the labor market is far from strong, it is growth.

However, the growth has not been evenly distributed throughout the country. Three states, in fact, have lost jobs since the recession ended: Massachusetts, Michigan and Ohio. Massachusetts, though it has not yet broken even with November 2001 jobs levels, has seen consistent job growth since January 2004.

But Michigan and Ohio have continued to lose jobs. The problem, not surprisingly, is in manufacturing. Michigan and Ohio have lost 159,000 and 136,000 manufacturing jobs, respectively, since November 2001 (see table below). Ohio's losses add up to just under 15 percent of the state's manufacturing jobs, while Michigan has lost about 20 percent — or one in five — of such jobs. Only California, a much bigger state, has lost a greater number of manufacturing jobs.

Job change by state since the end of the recession, November 2001-May 2007

Total non-farm job change
(in thousands)
Percent change
Manufacturing job change
(in thousands)
Percent change
UNITED STATES
6,948
5.3%
-1,777
-11.2%
         

NORTHEAST

530
2.1%
-465
-17.1%
New England
67
1.0%
-146
-17.0%
Maine
12
2.0%
-11
-15.8%
New Hampshire
24
3.9%
-15
-16.4%
Vermont
8
2.5%
-8
-18.1%
Massachusetts
-20
-0.6%
-72
-19.4%
Rhode Island
23
4.8%
-14
-21.2%
Connecticut
20
1.2%
-26
-12.0%
Middle Atlantic
464
2.6%
-319
-17.2%
New York
211
2.5%
-125
-18.4%
New Jersey
99
2.5%
-67
-17.5%
Pennsylvania
153
2.7%
-127
-16.1%
         

MIDWEST

352
1.1%
-545
-11.1%
East North Central
-62
-0.3%
-483
-13.4%
Ohio
-57
-1.0%
-136
-14.9%
Indiana
69
2.4%
-37
-6.3%
Illinois
67
1.1%
-103
-13.2%
Michigan
-210
-4.7%
-159
-20.3%
Wisconsin
70
2.5%
-47
-8.6%
West North Central
414
4.2%
-62
-4.8%
Minnesota
113
4.2%
-23
-6.3%
Iowa
70
4.8%
1
0.5%
Missouri
95
3.5%
-33
-10.0%
North Dakota
29
8.9%
2
9.7%
South Dakota
32
8.4%
4
9.2%
Nebraska
41
4.5%
-7
-6.2%
Kansas
35
2.6%
-6
-3.2%
         

SOUTH

3,400
7.4%
*
*
South Atlantic
2,096
8.6%
*
*
Delaware
23
5.5%
*
*
Maryland
140
5.7%
-30
-18.1%
District of Columbia
40
6.1%
*
*
Virginia
281
8.0%
-45
-13.5%
West Virginia
25
3.4%
-11
-15.2%
North Carolina
245
6.4%
-125
-18.6%
South Carolina
120
6.6%
-58
-19.1%
Georgia
243
6.2%
-40
-8.2%
Florida
978
13.7%
-30
-7.1%
East South Central
357
4.8%
*
*
Kentucky
67
3.7%
-26
-9.1%
Tennessee
141
5.3%
-47
-10.7%
Alabama
113
6.0%
*
*
Mississippi
36
3.2%
-22
-11.1%
West South Central
948
6.8%
*
*
Arkansas
61
5.3%
-27
-12.4%
Louisiana
2
0.1%
-12
-7.2%
Oklahoma
65
4.4%
*
*
Texas
819
8.7%
-64
-6.4%
         

WEST

2,597
9.3%
*
*
Mountain
1,308
15.3%
*
*
Montana
54
13.9%
0
-0.5%
Idaho
89
15.8%
-1
-0.8%
Wyoming
36
14.6%
*
*
Colorado
120
5.5%
-25
-14.3%
New Mexico
88
11.6%
-2
-4.6%
Arizona
470
20.9%
-6
-3.3%
Utah
179
16.7%
10
8.4%
Nevada
271
26.1%
9
20.9%
         
Pacific
1,290
6.6%
*
*
Washington
245
9.2%
-14
-4.5%
Oregon
143
9.0%
-5
-2.4%
California
790
5.5%
-212
-12.4%
Alaska
30
10.3%
1
11.7%
Hawaii
82
15.0%
*
*
         

Source: Economic Policy Institute analysis of Current Employment Statistics survey data.

* Data not available.

Check out the archive for past Economic Snapshots.

Subscribe to Machinery Lubrication

About the Author
About the Author