A respected University of Michigan economic forecast says the state is on track for an almost full recovery of the jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. That recovery could take awhile.
U-of-M economist Michael McWilliams says the signals are a recovery should continue to pick up, but a full recovery may take a couple of years. He says the manufacturing, health care, and hospitality have struggled.
“So we know there is still hardship here. We wish it could go faster, but the fact is we think it could take time for things to get better.”
Many employers are looking to hire. But McWilliams says the spread of the Delta variant could affect back-to-work plans. He says there’s a question of whether people are ready to return to work during the COVID crisis, even though federal extended jobless benefits are about to end.