MI Unemployment Down in December

Michigan’s unemployment rate in December declined over the month by four-tenths of a percentage point to 8.4 percent. The December jobless rate matched the lowest for the year in both April and May, which were the lowest monthly rates in the state since July 2008. According to the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget, the number of unemployed fell by 19,000 while total employment moved upward by 7,000. The net impact was a 13,000 reduction in the state’s labor force over the month. Spokesman Michael Williams says the number of people who found a job advanced for the third consecutive year in 2013 while the state’s unemployment rate continued to trend downward.