Anzhe Zhang
According to the latest Business Formation Statistics report, Michigan saw a small increase in business applications in October compared to September, though job numbers have essentially remained the same year-round at around 11,400 applications.
This follows a broader trend within the state and region that’s been seeing either stable or incremental increases in business applications, particularly compared to the highs of 2021.
In October, Michigan saw an increase of 137 business applications, rising from 11,335 in September to 11,472 last month. While there hasn’t been a sharp increase in job applications like there was in 2021, these numbers also don’t suggest a fall off, as application numbers were basically the same at this point last year at 11,486.
Data suggests that though business applications peaked in 2021, likely due to a combination of holdover applications from 2020 and federal aid programs, 2022 is on track to have more business applications submitted in the state than at any point in the past ten years, excluding 2021.
Nearby states in the Midwest region also saw a similar trend in October, with business applications seeing minor increases, though they remain significantly higher than at any recent point before the pandemic. Illinois saw an increase from 14,014 to 14,551 applications last month compared to September; meanwhile, there were only 10,261 applications filed during the same span of time in 2019.
The Midwest region saw a small increase of 1,124 business applications during the month of October compared to September, hopping from 70,226 to 71,350. These numbers are also higher than the 70,299 applications filed at this same point last year.
Meanwhile, the country saw a total of 432,834 business applications in October, which is a 1.2 percent increase from 425,741 in September. Though 2022 application numbers have remained consistent, they remain lower than 2021’s peak of 500,485 applications in May.
Mining, Unclassified, and Arts and Entertainment were some of the industries that saw an increase in business applications during the month of October, while Utilities and Finance and Insurance experienced drops.
