The
Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget announced this week
that the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate moved up by
one-tenth-of-one-percent in July to 8.8 percent.
With
total employment holding essentially flat, the labor force increased by 9,000
and there were 10,000 new unemployed persons.
Although Michigan’s unemployment is a half-percent
below the July 2012 rate of 9.3 percent, it still falls behind the national
average of 7.4 percent. July is the second consecutive month of increase in the
rate; however, economists point to the labor force continuing to advance. The
labor force has increased by 1.5 percent, or 71,000 since July 2012 and has
advanced every month in 2013.
