“Our local supply survey of the industrial market indicates that the economy is in fact starting to flatten in Southwest Michigan.”
But as Brian G. Long, Director of Supply Management Research in the Seidman College of Business at Grand Valley State University points out, it’s not falling.
West and Southwest Michigan purchasing managers surveyed report new orders retreated from +21 in June to -4 in July. Production also fell sharply from +28 in June to +0 in July.
“Indicating that probably the tariffs are starting to have an impact on West Michigan. Now fortunately, the other statistics in our survey are still marginally positive.”
Short-term Business Confidence abruptly dropped from +24 to -6.
“But over the long-term things are still fairly positive.”
Long continues tracking unemployment.
“It’s the overall rate of unemployment that’s heading up for West Michigan at a fairly rapid rate. For instance, the year-over-year unemployment for Grand Rapids has gone up to 6.3% from 5.4%.”
The state unemployment rate is currently 5.3% which ranks 48 out of 50 states.