Traverse City Record-Eagle

Archive: Friday

March 19, 2010

Unemployment rises in most Mich. regions

Northwest Lower Michigan unemployment passes 17%

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

TRAVERSE CITY -- Unemployment rates rose in January in 16 of Michigan's 17 major labor markets.

The state said Thursday that seasonally unadjusted jobless rates increased everywhere except in the Lansing-East Lansing area, where the rate was unchanged.

Unemployment rates throughout the region continue to spike, surging past 17 percent in the 10-county northwest Lower Michigan area.

"We're looking at rates that are very, very high," said regional labor analyst Jim Rhein. "Nobody was able to get away from this."

The January unemployment rate of 17.3 percent across northwest Lower Michigan is the highest Rhein said he's seen for the region in recent years. Area counties also continue to move down in their state rankings in recent months. Leelanau County's 13.3 percent jobless rate ranked 16th among Michigan's 83 counties; in November, Leelanau had the third-lowest county jobless rate in Michigan at 10.1 percent.

But Rhein remains optimistic because the unemployment rate increased by less than a percentage point between December 2009 and January 2010. Rhein said unemployment rates tend to increase more after the holiday season because construction and retail jobs are cut.

"This is more of a seasonal change and I think that bodes well," he said. "That would be very impressive if we could get a turnaround."

The lowest jobless rate was 9.3 percent in the Ann Arbor region. The highest was 20 percent in the northeastern Lower Peninsula, which includes Crawford, Otsego and Cheboygan counties. Cheboygan's jobless rate reached 22.9 percent in January, the eighth-highest jobless rate among the 83 counties.

Significant increases in jobless rates were recorded in all regions from January 2009 to January 2010.

Regional unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted. But national and state rates are adjusted to remove seasonal influences such as climate and production cycles.

Michigan's seasonally adjusted jobless rate in January was a national high of 14.3 percent.

Local and jobless rates up again in January

RegionJan. '10Dec. '09Jan. '09
Northwest Michigan17.3%16.4%13.3%
Northeast Michigan (including Cheboygan, Otsego and Crawford)20%18.9%16.4%
State of Michigan14.9%14.3%12.4%

 

CountyJan. jobless rateState rank of 83 counties
Leelanau13.3% (11.6%)16 (8)
Grand Traverse14.9% (13.8%)24 (22)
Crawford15.7% (16%)31 (44)
Manistee16.1% (15.6%)38 (40)
Kalkaska17.1% (16.6%)49 (49)
Otsego17.2% (17.9%)53 (59)
Antrim19.3% (18.1%)63 (62)
Charlevoix19.4% (18.2%)65 (63)
Wexford19.5% (19.3%)66 (70)
Missaukee19.5% (18.3%)67 (64)
Emmet19.8% (18.6%)68 (67)
Benzie19.9% (17.8%)69 (58)
Cheboygan22.9% (20%)76 (71)

Last month's rates and state rankings in parentheses
Rates are not seasonally adjusted
Source: Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth

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