January Unemployment Rates Rise Throughout Michigan

Seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates in January rose in all of the state’s 17 major labor market areas.

State officials say total employment declined in most regions over the month.

And labor force levels increased moderately in the majority of Michigan’s major labor market areas.

State unemployment market expert Jason Palmer says the increases were typical for the season.

He notes however that all local regions in the state also continued to show significant jobless rate declines since January of 2015.

The most prominent unemployment rate decreases over this period were registered in the Northeast and Northwest Lower Michigan regions, with declines of 2.7 and 2.2 percentage points respectively.

Five other regions reported rate drops of about 2.0 percentage points since January 2015.

In January, 12 of the state’s 17 major regions displayed unemployment rates at or below the national seasonally unadjusted rate of 5.3 percent.