GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A new report from the Center for Data and Analytics suggests that jobs are back to where they were pre-pandemic.
“It’s been a slow climb," Paul Isley, an economic professor at Grand Valley State University, said.
“Certainly people took a while to go back into the labor force as we came away from COVID. Certainly businesses had to adjust and figure things out. People didn’t really get back into that work mode. So it’s taken a little while,” Isley continued.
Some key findings from the report show that unemployment is the lowest it's been in 20 years.
Hourly wages are also $32 on average in the private sector. Despite this, however, the report notes that real earnings have remained where they were in 2019.
“We’ve certainly seen the hourly wage rise, and it continues to rise. The weekly take-home is more muted. People are earning more per hour, but they’re probably working fewer hours,” Isley explained.
Strides were also made in different demographics, like the gender earnings gap shrinking in Michigan.
The report looked at data through mid-2024. Isley has insight on how 2025 may look.
“We expect the job market to continue to be a little weak as we get into next year, as people know who the president is going to be and as we go through a few more rate cuts,” Isley said.
Overall employment growth is expected to be modest, according to the study. Increases are noted in jobs for private education and health services, with decreasing numbers of manufacturing jobs.
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