Michigan's unemployment rate continues to increase, exceeding national average
Michigan's unemployment rate rose for the third consecutive month, increasing to 5.5% in March, according to data released April 17 by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget, up from 5.4% in February.
The state's unemployment rate has increased by 1.3 percentage points since March 2024 when the jobless rate was 4.2%, the department said. Michigan's jobless rate in March was also 1.3 percentage points above the U.S. rate of 4.2% last month.
Payroll jobs declined in March, led by losses in the manufacturing and professional and business services sectors, the department said. Manufacturing declined by 5,000 jobs in March compared with the month prior, while the professional and business services sector lost 4,000 jobs in that time.
While March's data reflects job cuts made by President Donald Trump ally Elon Musk through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to federal workers around the country, Michigan's government sector actually demonstrated the largest over-the-month employment increase, with jobs increasing by 2,000 in March. This sector includes local, state and federal government jobs.
The gains in the government sector in March were shared between the state and local government subsectors, Wayne Rourke, labor market information director for Michigan's Center for Data and Analytics, said in an email. In March, federal employment in the state was unchanged and has only declined by a few hundred jobs since the beginning of the year, he said.
Nearly 58,000 Michigan residents were working in the federal sector (with about 21,000 of those jobs attributed to the U.S. Postal Service) in December 2024, according to recent data from the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget.
More on resources for federal workers: New state webpage offers resources for federal workers in Michigan who lost their jobs
In April, Michigan workers are filing new claims for unemployment insurance at elevated levels compared with a year ago at this time. More than 6,500 new claims were filed in Michigan last week, a 38% increase from the same week a year ago, according to U.S. Department of Labor data released April 17.
"We are projecting Michigan's economic growth to slow substantially over the next two years, but we are not projecting an outright downturn," said an economic forecast for the state that was released in February from the University of Michigan Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics.
After Michigan's economy was near a complete recovery from the pandemic recession at the end of 2023, Michigan's economy had an up-and-down year in 2024, U-M economists Gabriel Ehrlich, George Fulton and Saul Hymans wrote.
The economists wrote that 2024's "seesaw performance" doesn't provide much guidance on the economic outlook moving forward, "and the picture is further clouded by the uncertain path of federal economic policy."
More on the impact to small businesses: Michigan small businesses pivot, rethink growth plans amid federal policy shifts
They expect Michigan's unemployment rate to hover between 4.8-4.9% through the second half of 2025 and in 2026, as federal tax cuts help to stimulate economic activity.
Contact Adrienne Roberts: amroberts@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan's unemployment rate rose for 3rd consecutive month in March
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