EMPLOYMENT CONTINUES TO EXPAND FOR WEST MICHIGAN

Total employment in the three metropolitan areas of West Michigan is expected to grow by 0.5 percent in the third quarter and by another 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 1997, according to the summer issue of Business Outlook for West Michigan. Total employment grew 0.4 percent in the second quarter, as employment gains were reported in all sectors, but government.

Employment in the region's goods-producing sector is expected to increase 0.3 percent in the third quarter, but then dip a modest 0.1 percent in fourth quarter. Employment in the region's private service-producing sector grew by 0.6 percent in the second quarter and is forecasted to increase by 0.8 percent in the third quarter and by an additional 0.5 percent in the last quarter of 1997. Government employment fell 0.5 percent in the second quarter, but is expected to rebound by 0.3 percent in the third quarter and by another 0.2 percent in the year's final quarter.

Due mostly to the second-quarter employment gains, the region's unemployment rate dropped to 3.7 percent in the second quarter.

Second-quarter readings of the region's economic indicators were positive. The region's Index of Leading Indicators, which monitors economic conditions in the region's goods-producing sector, rose 4.4 percent, with all of the regional components of the Index improving during the quarter. The region's Index of Help-Wanted Advertising, which monitors economic trends in the private service-producing sector, rose 1.4 percent in the second quarter.

Source: W.E. Upjohn Institute