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Business Outlook for West Michigan

December 2000 Issue: Kalamazoo Area

     Total employment by place of work rose only an estimated 0.2 percent during the third quarter in Kalamazoo County.  The lack of job growth in the quarter was a contributing factor for the county’s unemployment rate to increase to 3.0 percent in the quarter.  \

    All of the county economic indicators point to continued lackluster employment conditions until at least the first of the year.  The county’s Index of Help-Wanted Advertising was down 5.9 percent, the number of new claims for unemployment insurance remained unchanged, and the number of new dwelling units being put under contract for construction plunged by 47.4 percent.