Product CenterCenter for Economic Analysis

Employment

The Bureau of Labor Statistics revised past Detroit employment numbers down. Hence, midyear employment projections for the seven counties making up the Detroit Metropolitan Statistical Area have similarly been revised down. However, the midyear forecast update endorses the December employment growth projections of one percent growth. Despite the equality of the two projections, midyear projection details differ from that of the December forecast. In this, we see a reversal of mining and logging employment declines to healthy gains, gains in leisure and hospitality employment, but a weakening of manufacturing employment. Overall, Detroit’s employment growth is expected to maintain the current unemployment rate of around 4.6 percent. Rounding out the Midyear update, Detroit’s wage and salary income projections were pushed up slightly in the midyear update, to 3.3 percent annual growth. Overall, personal income growth, though, is set to maintain pace with the state at around 2.4 percent over 2017.

Updated July 2, 2018