Detroit Evening Report: Unemployment rate in Detroit drops below 7%, reaching 22-year low
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City of Detroit officials, including Mayor Mike Duggan, announced the city's unemployment rate fell below 7% during a press conference on Jan. 5, 2022.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan says the city’s unemployment rate has dropped to 6.4%, a figure not seen in over two decades.
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According to The Detroit News, it’s the first time Detroit reached that milestone since December 2000. Duggan spoke at a press conference this morning, saying job growth will continue as time goes on.
“The evening of January 30, we’re gonna do a show broadcast over all of the different web pages, the city site, etc., that is going to show Detroiters all of the jobs available and bring in people,” Duggan says. “It’ll essentially be a community-wide jobs fair.”
This year, the city is expected to add another 1,200 jobs at the Amazon distribution center at the old Michigan State Fairgrounds and break ground on a new employment center at the site of the former AMC headquarters, which is expected to provide up to 400 new jobs.
While the news is encouraging, experts believe the numbers should be received with caution.
“It’s now fallen to slightly below where it was before COVID and that’s good news,” Donald Grimes, senior economist at the University of Michigan, told The Detroit News. “The unemployment rate has moved down very consistently and is now below where it was before COVID. However, the labor market is extremely tight in Detroit as it is throughout the state.”
Other headlines for Jan. 5, 2023:
- Michigan’s environmental agency awards $2.8 million to redevelop contaminated Detroit properties
- Detroit Riverfront Conservancy is hosting Winter Around the World cultural festival
- Michigan U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow will not run for reelection in 2024
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