The southwest Michigan economy is beginning to slow a bit with the labor force. Kinexus Group systems project manager Caleb Colp says there are three high-level factors with that, one being a sharp drop in the labor force in the past month after months of growth.
“The labor force downturn, while concerning, the jobs are continuing to grow in the number of postings. Really those come in sharp contrast to each other. How do we fix that is the key question, especially for our region.”
Colp says for Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren counties, the growth in the number of job postings from February 2020 until October 2022 is up 65.6% with 2,434 more jobs being offered. He called that an “astronomical” number that creates a very completive job market. Colp adds there is a much higher use of personal credit for spending right now instead of using disposable income.
“When you look at the actual numbers there, you can see when you open up that graph, they are in very sharp contrast to each other. And this really speaks to the confidence of the consumer in the market.”
Chief operating officer Jennifer Deamud says that will lure some people back to the workforce to pay it down.
