News Bite

Whitmer Claims Credit For 15,000 New Auto Jobs, But Fed Data Shows We’ve Lost That Many

First round of pandemic lockdowns slammed the industry hard

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer visited a Ford plant in Dearborn on Sept. 16 to announce that the company has completed an electric vehicle facility.

The governor promoted the event in a press release that stated, “Since Governor Whitmer took office, a record 15,000 good-paying auto jobs have been created in the state of Michigan, including the first Detroit auto plant in 30 years, cementing Michigan’s status as a global manufacturing leader.”

According to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, as of August 2021, there are 15,400 fewer auto and auto part manufacturing jobs in Michigan than when Whitmer took office in January 2018.

The number of Michigan auto and auto part manufacturing jobs peaked at 315,000 in 2000. By 2009 the figure had fallen to 108,500 jobs. The total had rebounded to 175,100 jobs in 2018 and stuck near that level until the pandemic, when for two months auto plant jobs here fell below 100,000. The number has since recovered but remains slightly below pre-pandemic levels.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.