From the depths of the “Lost Decade” and bankruptcies declared by the city of Detroit, General Motors and Chrysler comes a flourish of economic growth across Michigan.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, Michigan now ranks 10th in job growth among the 50 states in 2017. The Great Lakes State gained 57,100 jobs last year to put its employment level at 4.4 million workers. The state’s unemployment rate stood at 4.6 percent in December, despite a rise in recent months.

MarketWatch.com points out that two-thirds of new U.S. jobs in 2017 were created among the Top 10 states in job growth. In addition, in big states where thousands of new jobs are merely a blip on the economic radar screen, job growth continues to dominate.

Big states that grew their payrolls rapidly despite their size included California, with nearly 17 million jobs added, Texas, with 12.5 million jobs, and Florida, with 8.7 million jobs.

Michigan outpaced all of its Upper Midwest/Great Lakes competitive states – Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Seven of the 10 fastest job-creating states were in the West (and almost entirely not in the Sunbelt) — Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Idaho, California and Colorado.

Market Watch added this:

Most of the states in the Northeast and Midwest grew slower than the 1.4% national (job growth) average. The Rust Belt is still struggling, although Boston, New York, Washington and — surprisingly — Detroit have been adding a lot of jobs this (past) year. Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland and Indianapolis are lagging.

However, Michigan’s 2017 economic performance, as a big state, is a bit misleading when measured by the percentage of new jobs created. In that category, the Mitten State ranks 19th, behind such states as Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina.

Still, Gob. Rick Snyder, whose legacy will forever be tainted by the Flint water crisis, was worthy of taking a bow at his final State of the State Address on Tuesday regarding Michigan’s economic comeback.

Citing the 540,000 private-sector jobs added since he took office, Snyder offered this in his farewell SOTS to the Legislature:

“Our comeback has been tremendous. We’ve reversed the unemployment rate. We’ve stopped outward migration. Now we’re accelerating this comeback into the future. We have taken our challenges and made them opportunities. Now, as a state of nearly 10 million people, we need to stay committed to maintaining and accelerating this path. How do we make sure that each successive year in the future is better than the prior one?”

 

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