Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Job growth healthier than thought
Here is some good news. The title of this article in the Press is, "The recovery has come".

GRAND RAPIDS -- Put on a happy face, West Michigan. We're growing after all.

The latest, and most accurate, measures of 2005 job growth show this region is healthier.

"We really did do very well last year. The recovery has come," said George Erickcek, senior regional analyst for the Kalamazoo-based W.E. Upjohn Institute.

An early morning crowd of 70 took in the latest data at Van Andel Public Museum, during a quarterly review titled "Engineering Growth; Economic Trends 2006," hosted by the Business Review of West Michigan.

"In the Holland-Grand Haven and Niles-Benton Harbor regions, jobs grew instead of declined," Erickcek said.

Ottawa County added 1,000 jobs, instead of losing 2,000 as a preliminary analysis had shown.

The positive definition came from unemployment insurance data, compared to preliminary figures drawn from a sampling of companies.

"Grand Rapids and Wyoming basically rocked," Erickcek said.

The region's actual job growth was three times the earlier estimate, boosting the pace from 0.4 percent to 1.2 percent, a net of 3,200 jobs.

Despite the upbeat report, the economic boosters have some concerns:

-Although manufacturing jobs are not growing, output is up.

-Skilled labor will become harder to find, as baby boomers retire and population growth stagnates.

-Uncertainty over the state's Single Business Tax and its replacement is hurting development efforts.

-Lack of a low-cost airline and few nonstop flights are impacting corporations.

Hettinger, still suffering from jet lag after a trade mission to Japan, and Klohs, just back from 15 company visits in Germany, agreed West Michigan's abundance of mechanical know-how is looking better to foreign firms.

"The No. 1 issue is skilled labor," Klohs said.

Companies that have sites in the Deep South are finding "it's not all it's cranked up to be," she said. "They're understanding, sometimes you get what you pay for."

Back to you, Dick.