A new report indicates that Kalamazoo isn't getting hit nearly as hard as most small metros.

The retail trade, leisure and hospitality industries have been hit hard nationwide by the Covid-19 pandemic.  However, a new report shows that the workforce in the Kalamazoo-Portage metro is experiencing a below average impact.  According to volusion.com a majority of Americans losing their jobs either temporarily or permanently are during this pandemic are the workers making low wages,

The coronavirus pandemic has led to an unprecedented economic shutdown as thousands of “nonessential” businesses have closed their doors. The crisis disproportionately affects the 21.3% of American workers in retail, leisure, and hospitality who not only face lack of work, but also suffer from long-standing, below-average wages. According to the latest annual data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average hourly wage for workers in the retail trade and leisure and hospitality sectors was just $19.70 and $16.55 in 2019, compared to $28 per hour across all workers.

This report from Volusion used  the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s 2019 Current Employment Survey (CES), the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s 2017 Regional Price Parity (RPP) dataset, and the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2018 American Community Survey (ACS) to come up with the "Cities With the Most Impacted Workforces During Coronavirus.

The Kalamazoo-Portage Metro came in at #92.  Meaning we out performed 91 other small metros in the United States.  Battle Creek seems to be impacted even less as they are #154 on this list.

The Detroit-Warren-Dearborn metro landed at #31 and the Grand Rapids-Kentwood metro at #51 among large U.S. metros.

We are in unprecedented times right now.  Lord knows we're all struggling in many different ways.  Try to take comfort in the fact that the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek areas have it far better than most.

Workers in Nevada and Florida have been impacted the most according to this report.

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