Published January 19, 2006
LANSING - Michigan's annual unemployment rate dropped for the first time since 2000 last year, but the state remained well above the national average.
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The state's annual jobless rate was 6.8 percent, down from 7.1 percent in 2004. Its seasonally adjusted jobless rate for December was 6.7 percent, up one-tenth of a percent from November, state officials announced yesterday. The U.S. unemployment rate for December was 4.9 percent.
Despite the improvement in the state's annual rate, most economists expect annual unemployment will edge up this year and again in 2007.
University of Michigan economist George Fulton said recently that he expects the state unemployment rate to rise to 6.9 percent this year and 7.4 percent in 2007. Although the state is adding jobs in some sectors of the economy, the woes of the country's two biggest automakers and some of their suppliers continue to hurt the state's overall health.
But in some pockets of the state, economic development officials are hopeful the worst is over and that there is a trend toward improvement.
"For our region, we are definitely looking at an upswing," said Tim Daman, vice president for economic development with the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce. "We feel we have hit the bottom of the curve."
The size of the state's labor force, the number of people with jobs and the number of unemployed did not change much in December compared to November. Total employment in Michigan has been stable the past four months, according to the state's Department of Labor and Economic Growth.
Michigan gained an estimated 10,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in December. About half of the gains came from hiring in the professional and business services and government sectors.
Employment dropped last month in the education and health services sector by about 3,000 jobs.
Michigan had about 24,000 fewer nonfarm payroll jobs in December than a year ago, according to the employer survey. Most of the loss - about 21,000 jobs - came in the manufacturing sector. Retail trade employment was down 9,000 jobs from a year ago.
Professional and business services added 8,000 jobs during the year. Leisure and hospitality services added 5,000 jobs.
