Michigan's jobless rate jumps very slightly to 7.5 percent
Michigan's monthly unemployment rate has edged up slightly 7.5 percent. It's a statistically small nudge of one-tenth of a percentage point, and most of the change is attributed to more people looking for jobs.
A one-tenth of a percentage point shift in the unemployment rate represents about 2,000 people, and statistically that's considered virtually unchanged from the month before. The slight bump in the rate is attributed primarily to more people joining the workforce to compete for jobs.
The unemployment rate is down by one and four-tenths of a percentage point from where it was a year ago, which was 8.9 percent.
"Despite May's slight jobless rate uptick, Michigan's unemployment rate remains well below 2013 levels," said Jason Palmer, director of the Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives.
The Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives says most of the job gains since last June were in manufacturing, professional services like IT and accounting, trucking and related businesses, and construction.
When people who've given up looking for work and part-timers wanting to be full-time are counted, the state's rate of unemployment and underemployment is 15 percent.
