U.P. Employment Rises in August

The number of Upper Peninsula residents with jobs grew by 2,200 in August. The increase in those working, combined with a slight decrease in the size of the overall work force, dropped the U.P.’s seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate to just 6.6 percent. Many of those jobs are seasonal, and will disappear as the summer tourist season winds down. The seasonally unadjusted rate for July was 8.6 percent. The seasonally unadjusted rate for August of 2013 was 8.8 percent. Figures are compiled and released by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget.

Mackinac County benefited most from the summer hiring surge, with an unemployment rate of 3.1 percent – the lowest in the state. Houghton and Keweenaw Counties each had a middle-of-the-pack unemployment rate of 6.8 percent. Ontonagon’s 9.9 percent rate was the highest in the state. Baraga County’s 9.3 percent rate was tied for second-highest.

Every county in Michigan saw employment gains in August. The statewide rate was 6.7 percent, compared to 8.8 percent in August of 2013.