Michigan’s monthly jobless rate remains unchanged at 4.8 percent.
There was an increase in hiring, but that was accompanied by roughly the same number of people joining the workforce.
Governor Rick Snyder says the flat month-to-month unemployment rate and the surge in the number of jobseekers is good news.
“It means people are staying here, people are coming back into the workforce. So when you look at an unemployment number staying steady, if the reason it stayed steady is because you’re increasing your workforce and those people are finding work, that’s a good answer.”
Michigan’s jobless rate at this time last year was 5.4 percent.
Manufacturing, business services, and hospitality and tourism showed the biggest job gains over the year.
Employment in the mining industry, so important to northern Michigan, in particular, continues to suffer.
When people who’ve quit looking for work and part-time workers who’d like to be full-time are added in, the combined unemployment and under-employment rate is 11.2 percent.
