Detroit gained second-most manufacturing jobs in U.S.; auto workers paid $21,000 above industry average. View full sizeAP file photoDetroit'ÂÂs 74,000 motor vehicles and parts workers earn $21,000 above the industry average of $59,000, according to the Brookings Institute report. DETROIT, MI- Manufacturing in Metro Detroit has grown in the past two years more than almost every major metropolitan area in the U.S., according to a report today from the Brookings Institution. The "Locating American Manufacturing: Trends in the Geography of Production" report found that manufacturing in the Motor City and its surrounding areas increased 12.1 percent from the first quarter of 2010 to the fourth quarter of 2011. The national average was 2.7 percent.
Only Charleston, S.C., increased more than Metro Detroit, with a 14 percent growth in manufacturing jobs in the two-year period. The report also found that wages differ tremendously between sectors and locations. Other quick facts found in the report: Editorial: Raising minimum wage hurts low-skill workers. California will increase its minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022 and New York is poised to do the same. Fight for $15, a national activist group pushing the higher wages, also has a presence in Michigan and is expected to continue working its agenda in the state. With those measures — and with proposals from Democratic presidential candidates to raise the federal minimum wage — this is an issue that won’t fade away.
But raising the minimum wage to such artificially high rates is incredibly risky for state and local economies, and could damage the national economy as well. And those hurt the most are those it’s intended to help – low-income and entry-level workers. Broadly speaking, minimum wage increases result in job loss. A 2006 raise in New York’s minimum wage caused a reduction in the employment of younger, less-educated individuals by 20 to 22 percent, according to a 2012 study published in Industrial and Labor Relations Review. Read or Share this story: Got job skills? Michigan needs you. As baby boomers retire in ever increasing numbers, employers throughout Michigan are facing a growing problem finding workers with the education, training and skills needed to fill their jobs. Industries in Michigan from construction to health care are facing shortages of competent workers.
Those shortages are growing more acute as Michigan's unemployment rate continues to decline toward the 5% mark and the pool of available talent shrinks. Shortages of qualified workers — known as the "skills gap" — presents a drag on Michigan's future economic growth. One area where it is felt most acutely is in the state's construction industry, which is facing shortages of carpenters, electricians and other skilled trades. For an industry still recovering from a catastrophic decline during the Great Recession, this skills gap isn't some distant possibility. It's a here-and-now problem. “We’re already in trouble. The state's Mitalent.org website lists more than 95,000 current job openings in the state. Motor City: The Story of Detroit. Our Editorial: Detroit skills gap still too wide.
Detroit’s economic recovery has made it to several of the city’s centers — mainly downtown, Midtown and Corktown. But the city’s neighborhoods remain poverty-stricken, with tens of thousands of residents who lack education and are unable to find a job that matches their skill levels. Despite the resurgence, there are still far too few jobs in Detroit, and more worrisome, too few jobs available to Detroiters.
That’s what a recent workforce study has revealed, underscoring that Detroit’s major challenge is educating and training its residents for the kinds of jobs increasingly available in the Motor City. The city’s revitalization will ultimately mean little if it doesn’t provide economic progress for all Detroiters, and the city won’t sustain long-term growth if it doesn’t close the skills gap between its residents and its job creators. That’s largely because of the huge skills gap in Detroit. So high-skilled labor drives into the city to work every day, and drives out.
Fulltext. How Detroit Leaders Ignored Causes of Bankruptcy for 65 Years. By Lew Mandell The signs of Detroit’s decline have been well-recognized for 65 years. Photo courtesy of Spencer Platt/Getty Images. For the past few months, Lew Mandell, author of “What to Do When I Get Stupid,” has been our retirement finance guru. He’s addressed multiple ways to close the retirement income gap, encouraging boomers to plan ahead before they lose their financial faculties to old age.
The best retirement deal, he thinks, is the one that guarantees an 8.3 percent return — for life: Single Payment Immediate Annuities. But Mandell’s expertise is vast. Making Sense has done extensive reporting on Detroit, both the city’s declines and hopes. Lew Mandell: Detroit has just been allowed to enter the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. The economic malaise began with the exodus of non-automotive manufacturing jobs from Detroit, just after the Second World War. Relocation out of Detroit By the time of my study in 1972, the employment situation in Detroit was acute. Manufacturing Bankruptcy. PENSION THEFT: IMPORTED from Detroit? In giving the state-appointed Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr the green light to take the city into bankruptcy, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes’ December 3 ruling opens up a national offensive to loot public sector workers’ pension and health care benefits. Within a week Forbes magazine, aimed at audiences who don’t rely on public sector pensions for their secure retirement, published an article proclaiming “a silver lining” to be found in the ruling.
The author, Martin Fridson, believes this teaches public sector unions that it will be safer to negotiate 401(k)-type plans, which “belong” to the worker and would not figure into future municipal bankruptcies. He does not mention, of course, that such plans typically pay significantly less than the traditional defined-benefit pension plan. The same day as Rhodes’ bankruptcy ruling, the Illinois legislature cut cost-of-living raises on that state’s plan. Trending Downward Next Stage for Detroit.
How Can Detroit Bounce Back After Bankruptcy? – ThinkProgress. Detroit’s bankruptcy process could take a year or more. But development experts who focus on the Great Lakes region say the city and the nation must get smart about its medium-term future now. If state, local, and national policymakers work together to take advantage of its geography and industrial infrastructure, while recognizing that it must consolidate, the future can be bright. Detroit’s geography will play a crucial role because the city sits on the border with America’s largest trading partner.
“There are lots of advantages: access to the Canadian market, importance as a transport center for goods,” said Thomas Sugrue, a professor of History and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania and the author the book on Detroit The Origins of the Urban Crisis. The city will also have to shrink to be strong. American economic policy also has a big role to play in bringing Motown back, Pendall said.
Lawmakers will also need to keep in mind the history that led Detroit to this point. Detroit Rising: Life after bankruptcy. One year after a federal judge approves Detroit's bankruptcy exit plan, progress has been made while looming challenges remain, especially city pensions The City of Detroit has more than enough cash to pay its daily bills. Thousands of busted streetlights have been replaced. City retirees still receive pension checks, and valuable paintings remain ensconced in the gilded halls of the Detroit Institute of Arts.
That's the good news. Among the greatest concerns: a multibillion-dollar pension bill that starts coming due in less than a decade. The city is on the hook to make a balloon pension payment estimated at more than $100 million in 2024 alone. So far, the early returns for the investments since the bankruptcy are falling short. It was officially known as a plan of adjustment. Some, especially retirees, remain embittered by pension cutbacks. "I think the early indicators exceeded our expectations," former Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr said in an interview late last month. Peter J.