January may have been the peak performing month in west and southwest Michigan’s pandemic-induced economic recoveries.
“This is because of course, we always get a whole bunch of pent up demand that comes in after the recession has pretty much been declared to be over.”
The February Supply Management Research survey indicates the local economic recovery is stabilizing. That said, Brian G. Long is director of Supply Management Research in Grand Valley State University's Seidman College of Business says businesses are having trouble getting workers back to work. For those out-of-work, Long explains its due to unemployment benefits. Some are offering higher wages and more.
“Companies are giving people allowances to set up their own office at home, and work from home if their work allows them to do that.”
Overall, Long says most the of manufacturing sector is back to near-normal activity. Again, that’s most but not all. The automotive sector is experiencing a supply chain problem.
“So many components in the automobile today run on electronics that any disruption in the electronics market, of course, means disruption as far as automobile production is concerned.”
There’s demand for cars and trucks and most consumer goods and services. And that says Long, “should keep our statistics positive for most of 2021.”
