KALAMAZOO, MI (WHTC) – Private sector job growth was seen in the six metro areas of West Michigan during the final four months of 2014.
The quarterly business outlook by George Erickcek of the WE Upjohn Institute for Employment Research showed a gain of over 73 hundred jobs, a nearly one percent improvement that came mostly in goods-producing and private service-providing positions. However, government employment dipped by eight tenths of a percent for the period. The region’s composite jobless rate stood at 4.8 percent.
Locally, the Holland-Grand Haven market had a 1.4 percent overall job increase, with a nearly two percent jump in manufacturing, 1.5 percent in private service providing, and a slim two tenths of a percent uptick in government hiring. The overall unemployment rate stood at 1.4 percent. Economic indicators, though, were mixed, which could mean a possible slowdown.
In Kalamazoo-Portage, the employment signs were mixed, showing an overall hiring hike of just two tenths of a percentage point and a jobless rate standing at five percent even. Manufacturing hiring was up 1.3 percent; private service-providing was unchanged; and government employment fell four tenths of a percentage point. Mixed economic indicators show flat hiring rates ahead.
