By Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-912854.mp3
LANSING, MI –
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New jobless numbers show Michigan's unemployment rate fell for the third month in a row. The unemployment rate dropped four-tenths of a percentage point in June to 13-point-two percent.
Job growth in manufacturing and recreation outpaced the loss of thousands of temporary U.S. Census jobs. The result was a modest net gain of about three thousand jobs. But unemployment remains high as the rate slowly descends. There are still 641,000 people out of work in Michigan and looking for jobs.
And Bruce Weaver of the state Department of Energy, Labor, and Economic Growth says the pool of job-seekers shrank, which means fewer people competing for employment.
"When jobs are hard to find, people who would otherwise enter the workforce looking for a job do not do so," he says. "They may go back to school. They may have family esponsibilities."
Weaver says when people who've quit looking, or part-timers seeking full-time work are counted, Michigan's rate of unemployment and under-employment is 21.7%.
reWorking Michigan
For more on job creation and workforce evolution in Michigan, visit WKAR.org/reworkingmichigan