Manufacturing employment increased in Michigan for the fourth straight year, according to data collected by Manufacturers’ News Inc., an Evanston, IL industrial information firm that publishes the industrial database Michigan Manufacturers Directory.
Michigan manufacturers added 14,089 jobs from February 2014 to February 2015, an increase of 2.1% and above the U.S. Department of Labor’s reported national average of 1.7%.
Since 2011, industrial employment in the state has increased 8.3%, above the national rate of 5.8%, the MNI report stated. Michigan has recovered 40% of industrial jobs lost during the recession.
The most jobs were created in the transportation equipment sector, which has increased by 2.4%, to 133,278 jobs, in the past year, and 8% since 2011.
Last week, General Motors announced that it was investing $783.5 million in plant improvements in Pontiac, Lansing, and Warren. In February, Ford added 650 jobs in the state with production of its F-150. And Tesla last week bought an auto parts plant in Grand Rapids to expand its operations.
In Detroit, the news was less heartening. Manufacturing employment declined 3.5% in the past year. The city has just over 30,000 manufacturing jobs. Since the start of the recession, Detroit has lost 35% of its manufacturing jobs and 46% of its manufacturing companies (about a quarter relocated to suburbs in the metro area).
Michigan’s 13,915 manufacturers employ 675,000 workers, the MNI reported stated.
