Numbers from the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget show more people are working or looking for work.
The data collected by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget show the workforce growth is broad-based – including male and female and Black and white people working or looking for work.
Overall, the increase in the workforce from June of 2023 to June of this year was two-tenths of a percentage point.
“They are either seeking work or are currently employed right now,” said Dylan Schafer, an economist with the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget.
“Honestly, I think that’s a great sign for Michigan’s overall economy because we need more workers, right?” he told the Michigan Public Radio Network. “And with the unemployment rate still being relatively low, that shows that we’re doing pretty well right now.”
University of Michigan economist Gabriel Ehrlich said this is good news for employers facing a worker shortage.
“Coming out of COVID, it was really frustrating for a while because we expected workers to come back into the labor market and the labor force participation rate really stayed low for quite a while,” he said. “But now we’ve seen a big boost looking back to last year and into this year.”
Ehrlich said it also shows the worker shortage may not be as intractable as feared. He said the sometimes the availability of work can be a draw.
“I can’t point to any one reason,” he said. “It’s been a broad-based phenomenon in terms of Michigan’s labor force participation rate picking back up, but it’s been good to see.”
Brian Calley, president of the Small Business Association of Michigan, said he thinks the workforce growth it is at least partially the result of employers using generous hiring incentives.
“Over the course of the last several years, employers have been puling out all the stops to try to win people either back into the workforce or into the workforce and it’s coming in a lot of different forms,” he said. “Wages are up a lot. The flexibility that is offered by employers is at an all-time high. That is a reflection of just the need to have more people in the workforce.”
Calley said a byproduct of that is employers’ expectations have grown in terms of productivity and punctuality.
