U.P. Unemployment Takes Another Jump

When the employees at Cliffs look for new work, it should be tougher for them to find it than it was just last month.

That’s according to the state Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth.

Here in the U.P., 9.4% of the work force was out of work in November.

That doesn’t take temporary seasonal work into account.

It’s way up from November 2007, when it was under 7%.

The Michigan statewide average is way up from last year, too, climbing to 9.1% in November.

The number of unemployed people in the state has gone up 33% in the last year.

Every county in Michigan has more people out of work now than a year ago.

Menominee County had the lowest jobless rate in the U.P. at 7.2%.

Both it and Marquette County were among the 10 lowest in the state.

But in Mackinac County, the picture is very different.

As it often does outside of summer tourism season, it had the highest November unemployment in not just the U.P., but the entire state.

Nearly 1 in 5 people in the work force there was out of a job.