Tough times across U.S. have Michiganders stuck in state Many willing to move, but few jobs to be found
BY KATHERINE YUNG FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER During tough times in the early 1980s, droves of Michiganders fled the state to take jobs in the booming Texas oil patch. Survival depended on going where the jobs were. When the economy rebounded, many people moved back. Today, with the recession nearing a depth of misery last seen during those long-ago days, many Michiganders are confronting an unpleasant reality: Leaving isn't an option. The sagging job market in other states has made it much more difficult for Michigan residents to find work elsewhere. But staying put means living in a state with an 11.6% unemployment rate, the nation's highest. It's no wonder that many Michiganders feel trapped. Just ask Paul Schumacher, a 55-year-old residential builder and renovation specialist in Harper Woods. Since his business dramatically slowed last fall, he has been willing to go anywhere in the country for work. But the housing slump that hit Michigan has spread to other states, making new job opportunities scarce. One building company in California told Schumacher that things are just as bad in the Golden State, which has seen its unemployment rate soar to 10.1%. "There are no positions in Michigan and most other states," Schumacher said. If the lack of job mobility continues, it could have a big impact -- affecting everything from the size of Michigan's population to residents' demand for social services, experts say. The situation could help reduce, at least temporarily, the decline in the state's population, which now hovers at 10 million. From 2007 to 2008, Michigan was one of only two states to lose people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Its population has been falling the last three years, with nearly 110,000 residents departing from July 2007 to July 2008. Among the exodus: young, educated people like Sarah Katz leaving for jobs in Chicago, New York and other cities. In 2007, the latest year for which data is available, a net total of 17,000 of these kinds of talented individuals moved out, state figures show. Katz, 23, graduated from Michigan State University last May with an advertising and public relations degree. Though she applied for jobs in and outside of Michigan, the only interviews she got were in other states. The Kalamazoo resident wound up transforming an internship at a small advertising agency in Chicago into a full-time job. This kind of brain drain, however, is likely to slow this year because jobs are harder to come by in popular states such as Illinois, California, Texas and Florida, experts say. "It does keep people stranded in Michigan who might have gone somewhere else," said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., and a University of Michigan professor. Two of the nation's biggest moving companies already have noticed a decline in the number of Michiganders leaving the state. Atlas Van Lines moved 12% fewer people out of Michigan last year than it did in 2007 -- something it hasn't seen since the last recession at the start of the decade. United Van Lines experienced a 6% drop. Due to the worsening job market in the rest of the country, Kenneth Darga, the state's demographer, said he expects Michigan's net migration rate, now the worst in the nation at -9.2%, to show some improvement in the short term. But Michigan isn't unique, he said. Around the country, more people are staying put. Yet growing numbers of unemployed people stuck in Michigan also could hurt the state, increasing crime and boosting the need for food aid and other types of social assistance. State agencies and nonprofit organizations that help poor people already are stretched thin, said Sharon Parks, chief executive officer of the Michigan League for Human Services. "People are kind of hanging on by their fingernails trying to keep their heat and lights on," she said of the desperate straits facing the state's unemployed people. Schumacher hasn't reached this point yet. But if he doesn't find work soon, he said he could lose his truck and his home. So far, the Michigander has been getting by on his credit cards. But he doesn't have to look far to see that in today's economy, a job outside Michigan no longer provides more security than a position in the state. Last April, one of his sisters, Carole Burton, quit her job and moved from West Bloomfield to the Phoenix area, looking for warmer weather and a different lifestyle. Three weeks after she arrived, the native Michigander landed a job as a controller at a general contractor. Six months later, the company l aid her off when the national economy tanked. Burton, 50, said she doesn't regret leaving Michigan because she enjoys the climate, social scene and sports activities in Scottsdale. She had been working a temporary job at a nonprofit agency but now is unemployed. Her son moved in with her and helps pay the rent. "I didn't anticipate I could lose my job," Burton said. "It's extremely humbling and humiliating in some ways. But I didn't like Michigan at all." Contact KATHERINE YUNG at [email protected] Facts Other states are struggling, too In the nation's worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, the grass isn't much greener on the other side of the Michigan border. Here's a look at some places that were destinations for Michiganders in the early 1980s, when conditions in the state were even worse than today. Michigan January 2009 unemployment rate: 11.6% January 1982 unemployment rate: 14.7% * With Detroit's automakers struggling to survive, economists expect Michigan's unemployment rate -- already the highest in the nation -- to increase further. The national economic stimulus plan will help alleviate some of the pain but isn't likely to stop mounting job losses in the state. California January 2009 unemployment rate: 10.1% January 1982 unemployment rate: 8.8% * In December, the Golden State's unemployment rate hit a 15-year high. California, the largest state in the nation in terms of employment and population, is suffering from the housing slump, a more than $40-billion budget shortfall and a slowdown in exports. Even Silicon Valley's tech start-ups are feeling the pain. Florida January 2009 unemployment rate: 8.6% January 1982 unemployment rate: 7.7% * The Sunshine State is reeling from massive construction industry job losses. Its December unemployment rate was the highest since September 1992. Like Michigan, the only major industries showing job growth are education and health services. Texas January 2009 unemployment rate: 6.4% January 1982 unemployment rate: 5.6% * The Lone Star State has fared better than most, with an unemployment rate below the national average. But weakness in the energy markets and international trade is causing some hiccups. And unlike the early 1980s, the oil companies aren't on a hiring binge. Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; RealtyTrac Inc.; Dana Johnson at Comerica Bank, and Free Press research. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
