Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

Good news on the jobs front, especially within the WHMI listening area. Michigan labor market analyst Wayne Rourke says numbers are trending in a positive direction as we head into 2024.

“Washtenaw, Livingston and Oakland counties’ unemployment rates ranged from 2.6 to 3.1 percent. That was lower than the statewide non-seasonally adjusted average,” says Rourke. “Genesee had a rate of 4.1 percent, a little higher than the statewide.”

Rourke points out year-over-year jobs numbers also were up.
“So it’s not just seasonal, over the month, wrapping paper and retail trade.”

He says that means more people are returning work.

“That’s good news as people come back into the labor market, and it helps businesses find the workers they need to get some of that demand answered.”