Michigan’s unemployment rate in January fell to 10.7 percent, the lowest monthly rate in more than two years, the state said today.
The January rate declined from December’s 11.1 percent, and it was the lowest monthly jobless rate for the state since 10.6 percent in December 2008. However, the Michigan rate was still 1.7 percentage points above the nation’s January rate of 9 percent.
Compared with a year ago, the state’s January rate was down 3 percentage points, from 13.7 percent. During the same period, the national jobless rate decreased 0.7 percentage points.
Over the year, payroll jobs in Michigan increased by 69,000 or 1.8 percent, with the largest gains recorded in manufacturing, professional and business services, education and health services.
Job loss in the state over the year was concentrated in government, according to the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth, which is soon to become the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs under February executive orders issued by Gov. Rick Snyder.
“Recent data for the second half of 2010 and early 2011 point to an improving labor market situation for Michigan,” Rick Waclawek, director of the department’s Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives, said in a news release. “However, payroll job totals remain well below, and unemployment rates well above, pre-recessionary levels.”
by Amy Lane, Crain’s Detroit
