Michigan has lost more manufacturing jobs than all but two states since Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took office, reversing strong gains made by her Republican predecessor.
It’s a sad reality that wasn’t lost on folks in Michigan as Whitmer spent Wednesday lecturing Americans on her vision for job creation in Washington, D.C.
“Governor Whitmer is just hoping the media doesn’t ask her to ‘show her work’ when it comes to job creation,” Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Twp., vying to replace Whitmer in 2026, posted to X on Wednesday.
Nesbitt’s post linked to another from a reporter for The Detroit News.
“The three states that have lost the most manufacturing jobs since January 2019, the month Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took office: California, New York and Michigan,” the reporter wrote.
Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows Michigan’s manufacturing job losses totaled 27,600 over the last six years, behind only New York at 30,100 jobs lost, and California with 65,000.
While Michigan’s manufacturing jobs declined by 4.4% from 628,900 in January 2019 to 601,300 in February 2025, 21 other states increased their manufacturing jobs – the largest jumps in Texas with 71,200 jobs added, and Florida with 48,500, according to The Detroit News.
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“During (Republican Rick) Snyder’s eight years as Michigan governor from 2011 through 2018, Michigan went from 483,500 manufacturing jobs to 634,800, a 31% increase,” according to the news site.
The manufacturing jobs boom under Snyder was due in large part to policies Whitmer and her Democratic allies in the Michigan Legislature have since repealed, including a right-to-work law that bans compulsory union membership as a condition of employment.
Economists have long noted states with right to work laws and low tax burdens typically attract more business, workers and income than states without, and the BLS data seems to support that.
California, New York, and Michigan are non right to work states with corporate tax rates of 8.84%, 7.25%, and 6%, respectively, while Texas and Florida are right to work states, Texas with no corporate income tax and Florida at 5.5%. Neither Florida nor Texas have a personal income tax. Michigan’s personal income tax is 4.25%, New York’s is 10.9%, and California’s is 13.3%, according to the Tax Foundation.
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Those factors have an impact well beyond manufacturing, as evidenced by 11 months of rising unemployment in the Great Lakes State.
BLS data for February shows Michigan’s unemployment rate grew at the fastest pace in the nation over the last year, and it wasn’t even close.
Unemployment in the Great Lakes State jumped a staggering 1.4 percentage points over the year to 5.4% in February, which marks the second highest unemployment rate in the country behind Nevada at 5.8%. Mississippi posted the next closest unemployment gain over the last year with a 1 percentage point jump.
Michigan’s unemployment rate is now at the highest it’s been since September 2021, a statistic that equates to roughly 70,000 jobs lost over the last year, despite billions in taxpayer-funded incentives from the Whitmer administration to prop up the electric vehicle industry.
“So, what we’re seeing now is in sectors such as manufacturing and professional and business services, those are still our weakest sectors over the past year or so,” Wayne Rourke, labor market information director for Michigan’s Center for Data and Analytics, told WEMU. “Our retail trade has also been declining since last year.”
Yet instead of focusing on fixing those issues and numerous others plaguing Whitmer’s Michigan, from a $3.9 billion road funding shortfall to the lowest student reading scores in a decade, Whitmer spent Wednesday in DC “to talk about how we can work together to get things done to grow our economy.”
“Michiganders have an opportunity and obligation to lead by example,” she said, “and show DC how we get things done.”