“As the study suggests, we expect our numbers to get even stronger as Amazon and other projects come online and begin hiring more Detroiters.” “The mayor has a clear strategy, which is to attract major employers that will put Detroiters to work and this study reflects some of our initial success in those efforts,” said Nicole Sherard-Freeman, group executive of Jobs, Economy and Detroit At Work. The report is from economists at U-M's Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics, who produced it as part of the City of Detroit-University Economic Analysis Partnership. "The lengthy recovery we are forecasting reflects numerous business closures and an enduring shift to remote work lowering demand for downtown services," the report says. Employment in that category would be 10% below its pre-COVID level by late 2022, and still 3% below that level by the end of 2026. However, the report's most downbeat forecast is for "lower-education services industries," including the leisure and hotel sectors. It is forecast to plateau at about 2½% above its pre-pandemic level in the mid-2020s. Ongoing construction of a large new downtown building and tower at the site of the former Hudson's department store by Dan Gilbert's Bedrock real estate firm.ĭriven by booming growth in the manufacturing, construction, warehousing and transportation sectors, employment in Detroit's blue-collar industries is forecast to be 11% above its pre-pandemic level by the end of 2021, 20% higher by late 2023 and 23% higher in 2026.Įmployment in what the report calls "higher-education services sectors" will be boosted by Ford's Detroit campus plans.
The U-M outlook, which extends to 2026, anticipates total employment for jobs that are located in Detroit to recover to its pre-pandemic level by the third quarter of 2022 and continue growing, thanks to several big projects: Detroit's unemployment rate averaged 22% in 2020 and peaked at nearly 39% in May 2020. That compares to the state's overall 5% rate in June. The unemployment rate for Detroit residents was 8.5% in June, or about 3% below its pre-pandemic level. The city of Detroit is recovering faster from the COVID-19 pandemic than many once anticipated and is forecast to see faster jobs growth than Michigan overall although employment in services sectors like hotels could lag for years, according to a new economic outlook released Monday by University of Michigan economists.