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The average unemployment rate in the Upper Peninsula dropped last year, eight-tenths of a percentage point below the 2017 average rate.
The latest seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates were released Thursday by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget.
Though the unemployment rate dropped for all major labor markets in the state from 2017 to 2018…the rates rose in all of those markets for the month of December, ending with a jobless rate of 4.0 percent, three-tenths of a percentage point above the national unadjusted rate of 3.7 percent.
The average jobless rate in the UP was 5.7 percent in 2018, ending at 5.8 in December, up 1.4 percent from November but down 1.2 percent from December 2017.
That drop can be largely attributed to there being roughly 1,800 fewer UP workers in the labor force.
The number of payroll jobs were also cut down by 21,000 jobs throughout the state with the largest declines in professional and business services followed by Government jobs and industries of mining, logging, and construction.
Retail hiring was also slightly lower for the holiday season that the previous year.
