by Bruce Walker
Michigan unemployment climbed by 24,000 new claims last week, bringing the state’s total number of unemployment claims to 555,162.
However, the week-over-week tally fell by 9,705 new claims from 34,602 new claims in the week ending July 4 to 24,897 new claims in the week ending July 11, according to U.S. Department of Labor data. Those numbers are still above unemployment levels recorded at the height of the Great Recession of 2009.
Nationally, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 1.3 million a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 11.9 percent for the week ending July 4, a decrease of 0.3 percentage point from the previous week’s revised rate.
Michigan’s unemployment rate has dropped 6.5 percentage points since May, according to the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget. The state reported 14.8 percent unemployment in June, a decline of 6.5 percentage points from May’s numbers, which DTMB attributes to the reopening of Big Three automotive plants.
Despite the return of 446,000 employees to work in June, Michigan’s current unemployment is still vastly above levels recorded in February, prior to the measures taken to counteract the coronavirus pandemic.
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Bruce Walker is a regional editor at The Center Square. He previously worked as editor at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s MichiganScience magazine and The Heartland Institute’s InfoTech & Telecom News.
