By Laura Hipshire
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Looking for a job in Michigan is like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack, and it’s only getting worse.

“Michigan’s labor force in 2007 has declined in six out of eight months,” says Rick Waclawek, director of Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Growth Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives. Total  employment fell by 28,000 during the month as unemployment rose by 12,000.

“These labor force reductions are likely related to buyouts and workforce cuts in the state’s auto industry, as well as the recent downturn in residential  onstruction,” Waclawek says.

Benefits without burden
Two Erickson retirement communities in Michigan, though, are offering hope for jobseekers. The Erickson communities of Fox Run and Henry Ford Village are providing jobs and homes for the working middle class and continue to produce a solid tax base for their surrounding cities of Novi and Dearborn.

At the recent state of the city address, Novi Mayor Dave Landry identified Fox  Run as one of the top tax generators for the city.

“Erickson’s Fox Run has been a wonderful addition to our city. They have been an outstanding business neighbor . . . They have done everything they have said that they would do when they came to us in 2001. They built a first-rate retirement community and have kept their word to our corporate community,” Landry says.

“They have even made donations to our community, one to buy a fire (truck) ladder. And they are great employers of our youth. They even give college  scholarships. So yes, I think they are a great community partner. They were a great addition to our community,” he adds.