Michigan Unemployment Rate Down to 8.3%

Michigan's unemployment rate has fallen to 8.3% from 14% at the height of the recession.

What is the Maximum Unemployment Benefit in Michigan?

The Maximum Unemployment Benefit in Michigan is $362 per week. You benefit may also include an additional $6 per week per dependent (up to 5 dependents). In order to qualify for the maximum unemployment benefit you'll have needed to earn almost $35,000 per year, and be looking for employment.

Michigan's Unemployment Rate is Over 11%

Michigan's Unemployment looks like it will end 2011 someplace around 11%. While it has improved quite a bit from 15% highs, it still well above historic norms... And in my opinion it is under-represents how many people and jobs have permanently left the state. I would think plenty of unemployed people packed up their bags and moved out of state to places further South and West where there are better job opportunities.

Unemployment Rate by County

According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 30 million people currently unemployed -- that's including those involuntarily working part time and those who want a job, but have given up on trying to find one. In the face of the worst economic upheaval since the Great Depression, millions of Americans are hurting. "

The Decline: The Geography of a Recession," as created by labor writer LaToya Egwuekwe, serves as a vivid representation of just how much. Watch the deteriorating transformation of the U.S. economy from January 2007 -- approximately one year before the start of the recession -- to the most recent unemployment data available today. Original link: www.latoyaegwuekwe.com/geographyofarecession.html.

This data was last updated in February 2010.

Extended Unemployment Insurance Benefits in Michigan

If you're confused by what UI extensions you may be elligible to receive if you're an out of work Michigander, you may want to spend 18 minutes watching this webinar.

It's a pretty dry presentation that explains how after you exhaust your regular benefits you get EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation), then EUC-Tier 2, then Extended Benefits (EB).

Michigan also has plenty of other webcasts for the unemployed worker located here.

What's the Maximum Weekly Unemployment Benefit?

If you're recently unemployed, you may be wondering what the maximum weekly amount of money that you may be getting from the government. Fortunately, MSN Money published a comparison of how much your UI benefits could be... Note: The amount you get depends on the state in which you worked, not the state that you may move to during your jobless time.

Maximum Weekly Unemployment Benefit By State

1. Alabama - $255
2. Alaska - $370
3. Arizona - $240
4. Arkansas - $409
5. California - $450
6. Colorado - $475
7. Connecticut - $519
8. Delaware - $330
9. District of Columbia (Washington DC) - $359
10. Florida - $275
11. Georgia - $330
12. Hawaii - $545
13. Idaho - $362
14. Illinois - $385
15. Indiana - $390
16. Iowa - $443
17. Kansas - $423
18. Kentucky - $415
19. Louisiana - $284
20. Maine - $496
21. Maryland - $380
22. Massachusetts - $628
23. Michigan - $365
24. Minnesota - $566
25. Mississippi - $230
26. Missouri - $320
27. Montana - $407
28. Nebraska - $308
29. Nevada - $362
30. New Hampshire - $427
31. New Jersey $584
32. New Mexico - $455
33. New York - $405
34. North Carolina - $494
35. North Dakota - $385
36. Ohio - $372
37. Oklahoma - $392
38. Oregon - $482
39. Pennsylvania - $539
40. Rhode Island - $528
41. South Carolina - $326
42. South Dakota - $285
43. Tennessee - $275
44. Texas - $378
45. Utah - $444
46. Vermont - $409
47. Virgina - $378
48. Washington - $541
49. West Virginia - $424
50. Wisconsin - $363
51. Wyoming - $387
    

The amount of money received during Tier 2 and Tier 3 payouts are the same as what is received during the first phase of unemployment. The numbers above do not include the extra $25/week that Obama approved, so your checks may actually be slightly higher, as long as the stimulus plan is still in affect.

Michigan's U-6 Unemployment over 20%

According to mlive the broader level of unemployment in Michigan is over 21%.

For the 12 months from November 2008 to October 2009, Michigan had 21.1% of workers either out of a job, or working part time for economic reasons.

Of Michigan's 83 counties, unemployment ranges from ~6% (Mackinac) to ~25% (Baraga County).

Detroit's Unemployment Rate Almost 29% in July 2009

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According to the State of Michigan, Detroit's Unemployment Rate for July 2009 topped 28.9%--According to the Detroit Free Press, it's the highest jobless rate since records began (in 1970).

In this great recession, the United States has the highest rate of unemployment (9.4%) that it's seen in years, and Michigan has the highest rate of any state in the Union (15%) and Detroit is seeing tougher times than most cities as it lacks a diversified economy and for years has suffered from a corrupt political system and poor educational standards.

What States Have the Worst Unemployment?

The BLS has issued unemployment rates by state for July 2009 and for each state that is has the dubious distinction of being in the "Top-10" states of the worst unemployment rates, they have over 10%++ unemployment rates.

The States with the highest rates of unemployment are:

1. Michigan 15%
2. Rhode Island 12.7%
3. Nevada 12.5%
4. Oregon 11.9%
5. California 11.9%
6. South Carolina 11.8%
7. Ohio 11.2%
8. North Carolina 11%
9. Kentucky 11%
10. Florida 10.7%
11. Tennessee 10.7%

If you're one of the jobless in those states and asking yourself, "How many weeks of unemployment do I get?" you'll most likely find that you may be elligable for up to 79 weeks of UI benefits.

40,000 Metro Detroiters to Lose UI Benefits

According to the Detroit Free Press, over 40,000 Metro-Detroiters in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne Counties are likely to lose their UI benefits by the end of 2009.

In the next 6 weeks, about 10,000 will lose their unemployment benefits and the other 30,000 will have coverage expire prior to 12/31. This will likely result in an increase in people heading to food-banks and seeking other types of government assistance.

Could Michigan Get Tier 4 Unemployment Insurance

According to the Detroit Free Press senator Carl Levin wants to push legislation that would give Michigan (and any other state with over 9% unemployment) an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits.

That would bring the number of weeks of unemployment benefits to over 80!

How Many Weeks of Unemployment Insurance Do I get?

cnn has published data that shows how many weeks of UI benefits unemployed workers are eligable to receive. Wyoming gets the least amount of weeks (26 weeks), and a multitude of states are eligable for Tier 2 or Tier 3 benefits that could bring benefit checks coming for up to 79 weeks.

As of June 2009, the states that qualify for 79 weeks of UI benefits include:

1. California
2. Nevada
3. Oregon
4. Michigan
5. Colorado
6. Minnesota
7. Wisconsin
8. Indiana
9. Ohio
10. Kentucky
11. Georgia
12. North Carolina
13. Alaska
14. Florida
15. New Jersey
    

Michigan unemployment rate jumps to 15.2% in June 2009

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According to the Detroit News, the unemployment rate in June for the state of Michigan jumped to 15.2% in the month of June. This is a 110bp jump from the 14.1% jobless rate seen in May 2009.

The ranks of the unemployed continue to swell in Michigan as GM and Chrysler and their suppliers slog through the bankruptcy process.

As bad as things are in Michigan, things are even worse in Detroit---where the May unemployment rate topped 25%.

And the state as whole has already borrowed over $2 billion from the federal government to keep making unemployment insurance payments to the swelling ranks of laid-off workers.

Detroit's Jobless Rate at 25%

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According to the Michigan Department of Energy & Labor, in May 2009 Detroit saw it's jobless rate hovering at 24.7% (up almost 2 full percentage points from April 2009, and almost 10 percentage points in the last year).

This compares to Michigan's unemployment rate of 14.1% in May 2009 and the US Average hovering at around 9.4% for the same time. Clearly times are tough for motown, and with auto-sales still at multi-year lows, and Auto-makers and Auto-Suppliers filing for bankruptcy (GM, Chrysler, Lear, Visteon, etc...) it'll be some time before Detroit and Michigan start seeing a decline in the jobless rate and the ranks of the unemployed in this rustbelt state will be higher than the national average for years.

15 States have borrowed Federal Funds to pay UI benefits

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According to Data from May, 2009---14 states have borrowings from the federal government for funding of their depleted unemployment insurance funds---and in the coming months several more states will be added to the list.

Michigan, California, New York, Ohio and Indiana have borrowed the most money---while Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Wisconsin also have borrowed funds.

5 More States have Double-Digit Unemployment in May

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Things continued to worsen in the month of May for many states. An additional 5 States (TN, IN, KY, FL & IL) and Washington DC saw their unemployment rates jump to over 10% in May 2009.

Now 13 states have unemployment rates breaching double digits with Michigan, Oregon, South Carolina, Rhode Island and California rounding out the top five.

In two short months the states that make up this list have seen, on average, their unemployment rate rise by 0.8 percentage points.

Michigan's Unemployment Rate in May tops 14%

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According to the Detroit News, the jobless rate in Michigan reached 14.1% in May 2009---This compares to 9.4% in the entire United States in May.

The unemployment rate for Michigan was the highest in nearly 3 decades and comes as both Chryler and GM entered bankruptcy.

Detroit's Unemployment Rate ~23%

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Data from the state of Michigan shows that the state's largest city--Detroit--is suffering from an incredibly high jobless rate. Almost 23% of Detroiters were unemployed in April 2009---This compares to almost 13% of all Michiganders being unemployed.

Detroit suffers from lackluster politicians, a poor school system and a high crime rate--with these persistant negative conditions, it's likely that the city's unemployment rate will continue to outpace both the state's and nation's average unemployment rate for years and years to come.

Update July 2009--Check out the latest Detroit Unemployment Rate Data Here

Unemployment Rate Map---April 2009

The AP has published a map showing the April 2009 unemployment rate by state (shown below)--For your reference point, the national average was 8.9%. Click on chart for a larger image

As you can tell by the chart the states with the worst unemployment are located in the West (California, Nevada, Oregon), Midwest (Michigan, Ohio) and SouthEast (The Carolinas)... And then there's the swatch of states spanning the length of the Mississippi River from the Great Lakes to the Gulf that have unemployment rates between 8.1% and 10%

States with the highest unemployment rate in April-2009

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According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 21 states saw their unemployment rate decrease in April 2009 vs. March 2009 and 18 states (& Washington DC) saw their unemployment rate increase month-on-month.

The States with the highest rates of unemployment in April include:

1. Michigan 12.9% (up 0.3pp in the month)
2. Oregon 12.0% (down 0.1pp in the month)
3. South Carolina 11.5% (up 0.1pp)
4. Rhode Island 11.1% (up 0.6 pp)
5. California 11.0% (down 0.2 pp)
6. North Carolina 10.8% (same)
7. Nevada 10.6% (up 0.2pp)
8. Ohio 10.2% (up 0.5pp)
9. Indiana 9.9% (down 0.1)
10. Washington DC 9.9% (up 0.1)
11. Tennessee 9.9% (up 0.3)
12. Kentucky 9.8% (same)
13. Florida 9.6% (down 0.1)

Now in order for the increase/decrease in unemployment rate to be statistically significant in the month it should move by at least 0.3 percentage points---so statistically speaking most of the states were flat March to April---But things definitely got worse in Michigan, Rhode Island, Ohio and Tennessee.