Detroit Unemployment. Detroit Jobs Might Return, But Workers Still Lack Skills. DETROIT, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr has a long list of things to fix in the city and among them is one that may sound surprising: there are not enough skilled workers to fill job openings as they become available. “Every problem in this city revolves around jobs,” said Lindsay Chalmers, vice president of non-profit Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit. “That’s at the heart of the issue for Detroit.” The decline of manufacturing jobs, above all in the automotive industry, has played a major role in the slide of the Motor City’s population to 700,000 from a peak of 1.8 million in the 1950s. Despite recent gains, Michigan has 350,000 fewer manufacturing jobs than in 2000. Seismic shifts in the local labor market have left many unskilled workers behind. “In the old days you could graduate on Friday, get hired at the Ford plant on Monday and they’d train you,” said Sheldon Danziger, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan.
Detroit's workforce lacks job skills; it's called a 'huge problem' They're students, retirees, people living on disability and those laid off, too discouraged to look anymore. Whatever their background, they're among the 1 of every 2 Detroit adults neither holding a job nor looking -- the worst percentage for 2010 among 41 major U.S. cities. This vast segment -- some 174,000 Detroiters ages 16-64 do not work -- poses a serious challenge for a city on the brink of fiscal ruin. If Detroit is to pull out of its fiscal mess, a higher percentage of adults needs to have the skills necessary to enter the workforce and join the local economy, ultimately adding to Detroit's income tax base, said Kurt Metzger, director of the Data Driven Detroit demographic research firm.
"These are not necessarily people who have chosen not to work," he said. "Some of them have been beaten down for years. The labor force participation rate is based on different criteria than the traditional unemployment rate, which counts people who want to work but cannot find jobs. Pionline. Trustees of the $3.4 billion Detroit Police & Fire Retirement System on Thursday morning approved the economic terms of a settlement that will eliminate the pension cuts included in the city's revised bankruptcy recovery plan, filed April 1 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit. Police and fire department employees and retirees also will receive a 1% annual cost-of-living adjustment, down from 2.25% previously. The amount of the COLA might be increased based on good performance of the pension fund, said Bruce Babiarz, a spokesman for the pension fund, in an interview.
The pension fund's 12,000 current and retired fire and police employees along with other creditors must approve the city's final bankruptcy plan of adjustment in balloting that begins May 1. Under the current revised recovery plan, public safety employees and retirees had faced a 6% pension cut if they approve the city's bankruptcy recovery plan or 14% if the plan is rejected. Judge Steven W. Detroit pension leaders, city reach landmark deal on retiree cuts. Negotiators for Detroit pension boards agreed late Tuesday to retiree benefit cuts that were dramatically lower than initially proposed, marking a watershed moment that could help resolve Detroit’s historic Chapter 9 bankruptcy and position the city to start reinvesting in services, sources familiar with the deal said.
The deal would require civilian retirees to accept 4.5% cuts to their monthly pension checks and the elimination of cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increases, while police and fire retirees get no cuts to monthly checks but absorb a reduction in COLA increases, sources said. “I do think with time we’re going to be pleased,” one pension official close to the talks said. With the city’s two pension funds, two global banks and major bondholders on board with Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr’s plan, Detroit’s massive financial restructuring could now move quickly through court if Judge Steven Rhodes agrees that the roadmap is legal and feasible. But that offer is history. DetroitFactSheet_412909_7. 25 Facts About The Fall Of Detroit That Will Leave You Shaking Your Head. By Michael Snyder, on July 20th, 2013 It is so sad to watch one of America’s greatest cities die a horrible death.
Once upon a time, the city of Detroit was a teeming metropolis of 1.8 million people and it had the highest per capita income in the United States. Now it is a rotting, decaying hellhole of about 700,000 people that the rest of the world makes jokes about. On Thursday, we learned that the decision had been made for the city of Detroit to formally file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. It was going to be the largest municipal bankruptcy in the history of the United States by far, but on Friday it was stopped at least temporarily by an Ingham County judge. She ruled that Detroit’s bankruptcy filing violates the Michigan Constitution because it would result in reduced pension payments for retired workers. 1) At this point, the city of Detroit owes money to more than 100,000 creditors. 2) Detroit is facing $20 billion in debt and unfunded liabilities.
Detroit just got there first.