High-Unemployment Rate in Detroit, Flint,

¶ … High-unemployment rate in Detroit, Flint, Pontiac, and Redford, Michigan to the poverty rate based on the economic lost of the Automotive industry

The Automotive industry and its impact on unemployment rates in Michigan

Conditions are critical in several cities in Michigan as the unemployment rate has risen significantly in the recent years. There is much controversy regarding the reasons for which people no longer have access to jobs and for which poverty dominates many areas in these cities. The national unemployment rate is lower than the unemployment rate in Michigan and this demonstrates that people in this state are especially vulnerable to becoming poor. Conditions in the present-day Detroit, Pontiac, Redford, and other cities in Michigan where unemployment rates are worrying are, to a certain degree, owed to the fact that many sectors of the American automotive industry have collapsed in the recent years.

The second half of the twentieth century saw the U.S. automotive industry experience rapid progress as Americans and individuals from around the world in general expressed great interest in buying American cars. However, the tendency to buy American cars has recently declined during the last few decades as society has started to express interest in more economic means of transportation.

The fact that Detroit is generally considered to be synonymous with the American automotive industry makes it possible for individuals to gain a better understanding of why unemployment rates in the city are currently much higher when compared to unemployment rates in the rest of the country. "As recently as the mid-twentieth century, two thirds of the nation's auto industry jobs were in Michigan" (Klier & Rubenstein 29).

The city of Detroit has had one of the highest unemployment rates in the country in the recent years. The fact that the economic crisis also affected the auto industry contributed to this sudden rise in unemployment. While individuals from around the country suffered as the economic crisis affected the domains they worked in, people in Detroit and in several cities in Michigan took a full hit as their jobs had collapsed. Even with this, it would be irrational to blame the economic crisis and the fall of the automotive industry for the fact that a lot of individuals in Detroit are unemployed. The fact that the state holds a great deal of indigenous tribes means that many are unable to integrate the social order because they cling on to cultural values. As a result, it is difficult for some to get jobs and to take on attitudes similar to other non-native individuals living in their community (Gaquin & Dunn 160).

The fact that the number of jobs in Detroit has gone down significantly also influenced many individuals to express lesser interest in educational institutes, considering that they came to consider that it would be pointless for them to learn as long as they had nowhere to work consequent to the moment when they finished learning. "The Detroit, Michigan drop-out rate among black males is 50%, the Detroit unemployment rate among black males is 50%" (Kill 145). This demonstrates that education is very important when considering unemployment rates and that the auto industry is, to a certain degree, not the only institution responsible for the critical conditions currently faced by individuals in Michigan.

Although it is difficult to determine what other factors are responsible for the high unemployment rates in Michigan in the recent years, it is only safe to assume that the fact that the collapse of the automotive industry in the state is one of the principal causes for the crisis. What is curious about this is that other states that have automotive industries have experienced lesser problems as a result of the fact that American car sales have gone down. Michigan "is still by far the leading state in terms of auto industry employment, but experienced a decline of at least 125,000 employees between 1979 and 2003 in automotive-related industries" (Cooney & Yacobucci 54).

Michigan started to provide lesser and lesser jobs in the automotive industry long before the economic crisis. Taking this into account, it appears that the decline in American car sales and the economic crisis are not the only factors responsible for the fact that unemployment rates have gone up significantly throughout the state. Detroit stands alongside of the three automotive American giants as they are all struggling to survive in a hostile environment. When considering that the city experience a downward trend during the recent years, it appears that it is never going to recover from the critical condition that it currently finds itself in.