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Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Watching the walls fall down around us
It's odd, but it's like the entire city is anxious.
I'm sure you've already heard the news: General Motors is getting rid of a whole lot of jobs. Delphi, an automotive supplier, wants to eliminate 24,000 jobs as well. Ford isn't far behind: The big blue oval will announce it's "restructuring plan" in January, and has already disclosed that it will eliminate at least 4,000 jobs. (Read the story here.) All of this is going down in what is already the nation's worst economy. Here in Detroit we have seen the loss of over 100,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000. We have the highest unemployment rate in the country, and for those who are still working--well, Michigan's median household income has decreased by almost $10,000 since 1999. Once, people moved to Michigan in order to find work in the booming auto industry. People came from the south and the rural midwest looking for steady work that paid well. Detroit seemed like the promised land. Today, the opposite is true. The Big Three automotive companies are trying to get smaller, and that means that there are fewer jobs in the local economy. People (particularly people with college degrees) are increasingly moving to other states to find better opportunities. The future is very bleak here in the Great Lake State. |
