Michigan Unemployment Improves

Lansing – Michigan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in January declined over the month by three-tenths of a percentage point to 9.0 percent, according to data released today by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget (DTMB). Total employment advanced by 16,000 in January as the number of unemployed decreased by 14,000. The state’s workforce was little changed over the month.

The Michigan jobless rate in January 2012 was nearly two full percentage points below the state’s January 2011 rate of 10.9 percent. The national jobless rate decreased by eight-tenths of a percentage point over this period.

“Michigan’s labor market situation continued to improve into early 2012,” said Rick Waclawek, director of the Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives. “With the rate decline in January, Michigan’s unemployment rate has fallen by around five full percentage points since the end of the national recession in mid-2009.”

Monthly Labor Force Trends & Highlights

· Michigan’s January jobless rate was the lowest for the state since the September 2008 rate of 8.9 percent.

· January marked the fourth consecutive month that the state’s unemployment rate was below 10.0 percent.

· With the annual revision process, Michigan’s 2011 annual jobless rate was revised slightly downward by one-tenth of a percentage point from 10.4 to 10.3 percent. The state’s 2010 rate was revised slightly upward by two-tenths of a percentage point from 12.5 to 12.7 percent.

· Total employment in Michigan rose by 47,000 or 1.1 percent from January 2011 to January 2012. The state’s employment levels increased in the first quarter 2011, however early gains were erased by July. From September 2011 onward, Michigan’s monthly employment levels trended upward.

· From January 2011 to January 2012, the number of unemployed in Michigan dropped by 94,000 or 18 percent, which outpaced the national unemployment decline of 8 percent over the same period.