Michigan jobless rate ticks up in May

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The state says Michigan's jobless rate has risen 0.2 percentage points after a yearlong decline.

The state said Wednesday that May's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 8.5%, compared with April's 8.3%.

The state Department of Technology, Management and Budget says the jobless rate has fallen 2.1 percentage points from the rate of May 2011. The national unemployment rate fell 0.8 percentage points in that period.

The national jobless rate also rose slightly last monthly, from 8.1% to 8.2%.

The department says the increase in the state unemployment rate was largely due to more people entering the work force.

The civilian labor force rose by 4,000 to 4.663 million in May, and the number of people unemployed rose by 6,000 to 395,000.

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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.