Republicans Are Inheriting Michigan Job Growth and Budget Surpluses

It was a pretty big week for the Republicans, during the 2010 elections. They won control of the US House of Representatives and they won the House, Senate, and Governorship in Michigan.

So before they even set foot in office, I want to make some things clear for posterity. This message is meant for people of.........

...THE FUUUUUUUUTUUURE. Cuz people of THE FUTURE seem to very quickly forget what things were like in THE PAAAAST.

Ready, Future Readers?

Job growth in Michigan , 2010, began a full year before the batch of Republicans soon to take over leadership even got elected. Before many of them even started campaigning. And definitely before any of them takes office two months from now.

Not only that, but we also have a $100 million surplus.

If more folks realized that, they may not have voted out the folks who made our diversified economy and job growth possible. Yeah...the people who helped us turn the corner should have let us know their accomplishments, but Democracy is a two way street. The voter needs to be paying attention...

...which brings us to the US Department of Labor statistics for Michigan's employment.

And more specifically, here's the historical data for Michigan's employment. Look at the Employment Column, specifically. The Unemployment Rate doesn't tell us as much because it's just a percentage of people who don't have work who are looking for work. You can have lower unemployment but fewer employed people if suddenly a lot of people just give up looking for work. So unemployment tells us less than just looking at the number of people who have jobs.

Note that employment in the year March 2000 is 4,983,282 people, and then watch the number drop month after month after month after month after month. It's worth noting that Republican Engler was Governor until January 2003.

January 2001: 4,949,171 jobs : 34,111 jobs lost.
January 2002: 4,757,528 jobs
January 2003: 4,699,742 jobs--> This is the month Engler left office and we had already lost 283,540 Jobs in Michigan from 2000 to 2003.

Month after month after month we saw a decline, nearly every month except for a period in 2005 and 2006 where we saw a period of job growth until the Recession of 2007 hit and job losses began again.

Month over month declines.

2007
4725640
4721172
4712852
4701839
4689400
4677860
4668695
4662968
4660900
4661088
4661781
4661113

2008
4657217 --> Obama is inaugurated.
4649316
4637085
4621012
4602236
4582910
4563683
4543400
4519433
4489675
4454047
4414491

2009
4373714
4334442
4298897
4267686
4239995
4216022
4196182
4180350
4167176
4155358
4144829
4136416 --> Here is where we turn the corner after 37 months of non-stop job losses.

2010
4146577 +10,161 jobs
4160262 +13,685 jobs
4168891 +8,629 jobs
4198482 +29,591 jobs
4221828 +23,346 jobs
4222232 +403 jobs
4209413 - 12,819 jobs
4196911 -12,501 jobs
4201317 +4,406 jobs

-------------> Michigan saw a net gain of + 65,204 jobs in 2010 after many,many years of job losses starting in 2000.

Michigan's economy is a lot more diverse than it's ever been, and is finally seeing job growth and budget surplusses just in time for Republicans to seize the reigns and likely claim credit for a growing economy that started well before any of them even considered running for office.

I do hope our new Republican leaders make some wise choises. I do hope they re-invest that budget surplus in Michigan's economy rather than give it away to the DeVos family and the wealthy of Michigan. I hope they keep their hands of policies that have ushered in new industries such as the emerging renewable energy manufacturing industry in West Michigan. I hope they continue to give targeted tax incentives to businesses for setting up shop in Michigan. I hope they continue to film tax rebate to keep Michigan front and center on the National stage and incubate new businesses and jobs here. I hope they continue the Pure Michigan campaign to lure tourism to Michigan.

And I hope that the work they do ADDS TO the job growth we're already seeing as a result of Granholm's efforts at diversifying Michigan's economy for the long term.