Losses in manufacturing jobs have contributed to an overall increase in non-farm unemployment in the Lansing area, according to the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth.
A study released Sept. 1 by the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the Lansing and East Lansing area posted the second-largest loss in non-farm employment from July 2003 to July 2004, with a decline of 9,600 jobs. San Jose, Calif., also declined by 9,600.
Detroit was listed as first in the study, with a loss of 44,900.
"You can really tie it in the Lansing-East Lansing area to manufacturing," said Jim Rhein, a labor market analyst for the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth.
Rhein said that initially, the Lansing and East Lansing area was not in one of the top positions, but seasonal shifts in the manufacturing industry helped push the region to the number two spot.
The labor market has been sluggish, Rhein said, adding that there has been a significant decline in the sector for a while.
"We have seen job declines over the year, and we've seen them for various metropolitan areas for years now," Rhein said. "It tends to affect Michigan a little more because Michigan is more tied to manufacturing than most states."
Declines in manufacturing jobs have occurred since the middle of 2002, but stabilized between June-September 2003 and this past May, with a decline in manufacturing over the summer.
Reasons for job losses in manufacturing are more than just the seasonal shifts in industry, Rhein said. He suggested the post-Sept. 11 terrorist attacks economic recession, an increase in productivity, large costs of health care and some state-level outsourcing as possible causes of a decrease in employment.
Rhein added the higher education and government sectors, in particular, need to be fully analyzed sometime this fall, because jobs in those areas tend to decline in the summer and rebound in the fall.
Data from the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce shows that the top three employers in the region include state government, with 13,900 employed, MSU, with 13,636, and General Motors Corp., with 10,000.
The seasonal layoffs used to be the result of a model changeover period in July, particularly at the GM plants in Lansing.
Kim Carpenter, spokesperson for GM in Lansing, said July is no longer the changeover period for GM. Downtime that occurs in that month is now known as a standard two-week corporate shutdown, Carpenter said.
That changeover is now "a rolling changeover so there's no downtime associated with it, most of the time," Carpenter said.
But there was a current downtime at one GM plant -Lansing Car Assembly, 920 Townsend St. - that put 2,200 people out of work for three weeks, Carpenter said, adding that workers would return today.
The number of unemployed in Lansing and East Lansing grew by 700 people, from 14,000 in July 2003 to 14,700 in July 2004, according to the national study.
With 250,000 people in the Lansing-area labor force, the numbers are not huge, Capital Area Michigan Works CEO Douglas Stites said, adding that the Lansing unemployment rate is still below the current state average of 7.5 percent. But the numbers aren't reassuring for everyone, Stites said.
"For anybody who doesn't have a job, the statistics become kind of meaningless," Stites said.
