Overall job growth 2015-2017
Within the advanced manufacturing sector, three supply chain-related subsectors in the region experienced job growth worth noting: Transportation and Equipment Manufacturing(+4%,635newjobs),Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing (+8%, 476 new jobs), and Electrical Equipment and Component Manufacturing (+15%, 277 new jobs). This substantial growth speaks to the strength of West Michigan’s manufacturing supply chain. Construction (+17%, 3,000 new jobs) Overall, construction jobs jumped by 7 percent, nearly twice the state and national growth rate. West Michigan subcontractors and general contractors saw explosive job growth, but subcontractors, in particular, accounted for over half of the sector’s growth rate. These are businesses involved in building construction, but not responsible for the entire project, such as electricians, building material providers, safety and security suppliers, etc. Services (+10%, 11,470 new jobs) At 10 percent, the region’s services sector experienced surging growth between 2015 and 2017. Most of the growth was reported
Place and Litehouse announced the company would invest $12.1 million in an expansion, adding 77 new jobs at its Lowell facility over the next three years. Advanced Manufacturing (+3%, 1,360 new jobs) Manufacturing job growth inWest Michigan grew by 3 percent, on par with Michigan’s job growth rate. However, both the region and state far exceeded the nation’s manufacturing growth rate of zero percent. Michigan’s reputation as one of the nation’s manufacturing strongholds continues to stand true.
REGIONAL JOB GROWTH TRENDS The fourWest Michigan counties served by The Right Place all experienced significant jobgrowth over the last several years. Despite having unemployment rates hovering between 3-5 percent the last two years, employers in the region added nearly 23,000 new jobs between 2015 and 2017, and the overall job growth rate was 5 percent across all industries. (See Figure 1) To put these numbers into perspective, West Michigan’s 5 percent job growth rate was morethandoublethatof thestateandnation. Digging deeper into West Michigan’s job growth between 2015 and 2017, there are four industry sectors leading the pack: agribusiness and food processing, advanced manufacturing,construction,andservices. (See Figure 2) Although employers across all industries created jobs and contributed to West Michigan’s high job growth rate, these industries were exceptional. Let’s take a closer look. Agribusiness Agribusinessand foodprocessing jobgrowth in West Michigan swelled by 7 percent, over and above both the state (5 percent) and nation (2 percent). Within that sector, food manufacturing jobs experienced growth at 10 percent (730 jobs), which is three times the national average. One example of this growth was our economic development expansion project with refrigerated salad dressing manufacturer Litehouse. In November 2017, The Right JOB GROWTH BY INDUSTRY SECTOR and Food Processing (+7% job growth, 960 new jobs)
Figure 2
Job growth by sector 2015-2017
10%
West Michigan Michigan United States
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6%
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Ag & Food Processing
Advanced Manufacturing
Construction Services
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THE STATE OF OUR REGION
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