Mich unemployment down, up in Detroit

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The employment picture has improved across most of Michigan while worsening in metropolitan Detroit.

The state said Tuesday that the seasonally unadjusted jobless rate remained flat statewide, going from 8.2% in September to 8.3% in October. The rates were down in 16 of the state's 17 major labor markets but up 0.5 percentage points in metropolitan Detroit.

The Department of Technology, Management & Budget says the Detroit labor market's unemployment rate stood at 10.5% in October, compared with September's 10%.

The department says the rate for the Grand Rapids fell from 6% in September to 5.6% in October.

The statewide jobless rate is down 0.8 percentage points since October 2011's 9.1%.

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Michigan's major labor market areas, their seasonally unadjusted jobless rates for October, followed by September:

Michigan, 8.3 percent, compared with 8.2 percent.

Ann Arbor, 4.6 percent, compared with 4.9 percent.
Battle Creek, 6.1 percent, compared with 6.5 percent.
Bay City, 6.9 percent, compared with 7.2 percent.
Detroit-Warren-Livonia, 10.5 percent, compared with 10 percent.
Flint, 8.1 percent, compared with 8.4 percent.
Grand Rapids-Wyoming, 5.6 percent, compared with 6 percent.
Holland-Grand Haven, 5.5 percent, compared with 5.8 percent.
Jackson, 7 percent, compared with 7.4 percent.
Kalamazoo-Portage, 6.2 percent, compared with 6.5 percent.
Lansing-East Lansing, 5.9 percent, compared with 6.2 percent.
Monroe, 6.6 percent, compared with 7.1 percent.
Muskegon-Norton Shores, 7.5 percent, compared with 8 percent.
Niles-Benton Harbor, 7.3 percent, compared with 7.8 percent.
Saginaw-Saginaw Township North, 7.3 percent, compared with 7.6 percent.
Upper Peninsula, 6.8 percent, compared with 7.2 percent.
Northeast Lower Michigan, 8.6 percent, compared with 8.7 percent.
Northwest Lower Michigan, 7.5 percent, compared with 7.8 percent.

Source: Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget

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Unemployment benefits do not define the statewide unemployment rate, state officials have told 24 Hour News 8.   The rate is based on interviews with what officials calculate to be a representative sample of residents. But if a person who exhausts benefits stops looking for work, he or she does disappear from the ranks of the unemployed.