Michigan’s unemployment rate dropped .4 percentage points last month to 8.4%.
We have more from The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta.
The reduction was driven largely by people who quit looking for jobs and are no longer measured as a part of the workforce. The December number brings the state’s 2013 average unemployment rate to eight-point-seven percent. The annual rate has dropped in each of the past four years.
Officially, there are 394,000 unemployed people in Michigan. The average length of unemployment is 39 weeks. The combined rate of unemployment, people who’ve stopped looking, and under-employment is 15.3%, which is also a drop from the previous year.