Number of Michiganders filing for jobless benefits continues decline

Last week, the number of Michiganders that filed first-time unemployment claims was a 31% decrease over the over the previous week, according to new numbers released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The number of Michiganders that filed first-time jobless claims the week ending June 4 was 4,621, a decrease from the 6,699 first-time claims filed the week of May 28.

The federal data also shows that the number of Michiganders filing continuing unemployment claims, those who already filed an initial claim, decreased by 3,456 claims from 31,813 claims the week ending May 21 to 28,357 claims the week ending May 28.

Here are the top job classifications for new claims

• Wholesale trade: 1,449

• Manufacturing: 567

• Unclassified or not available: 759

• Health care and social assistance: 608

• Administration and support, waste management and remediation services: 424

• Retail: 383

Here are the top job classifications for insured claims

• Manufacturing: 5,542

• Administration and support, waste management and remediation services: 3,067

• Construction: 2,829

• Health care and social assistance: 2,700

• Wholesale trade: 2,045 Nationally, 229,000 Americans filed first-time jobless claims last week, an increase from 202,000 the prior week. The 4-week moving average is 215,000, a increase from 207,000 the prior week.

The number of Americans that filed continuing claims for unemployment totaled 1,306,000 the week ending May 28, unchanged from the week ending May 21.

The 4-week moving average is 1,317,500, a decrease of 9,000 from the week ending May 21. This is the lowest level for this average since Jan. 10, 1970 when it was 1,310,250.

April workforce update

For Michigan, April was the 12th consecutive month of job growth and the 10th consecutive month of unemployment rate declines in the state.

According to the Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget (DTMB), Michigan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped by 0.1% during April to 4.3%. That’s Michigan’s lowest seasonally adjusted jobless rate since March 2020 when it was 3.8%.

In April, the state saw a total civilian labor force gain of 14,000 to 4,833,000 as statewide employment increased by 19,000 to 4,624,000, while total Michigan unemployment decreased by 5,000 to 209,000.

The total number of seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll jobs decreased by 2,000 to 4,326,000. This follows 11 consecutive months of nonfarm job advances.

“Two years after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the state, Michigan’s labor market has shown significant growth,” said Wayne Rourke, associate director of the Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives. “The statewide jobless rate fell by over 18 percentage points, while payroll employment advanced by over 925,000 since April 2020.”

Despite a continued recovery in payroll jobs from the COVID-19 recession, seasonally adjusted job counts during April in most of Michigan’s industry sectors remained below their February 2020 pre-pandemic levels.

Compared to pre-pandemic levels, Michigan sectors with the greatest employment deficits included Leisure and hospitality (-9.4 percent), Education and health services (-5.6 percent), Other services (-5.2 percent), and Government (-5.1 percent). However, several major industries not only returned to prepandemic employment levels in April, but added jobs including Mining and logging; Financial activities; Construction; and Trade, transportation, and utilities.

Michigan’s April unemployment rate was 0.7 percentage points larger than the national rate of 3.6% The U.S. jobless rate fell by 2.4 percentage points over the year, while the statewide rate decreased by 1.9 percentage points during the same period.

In Oakland County, the county’s total workforce increased from from 694,776 in September to 712,525 in December, a 2.5% increase.

In Macomb County, the county’s total workforce increased from from 324,602 in September to 326,189 in December, a 0.4% increase. In Wayne County, the county’s total workforce increased from from 693,371 in September to 710,238 in December, a 2.4% increase.

A copy of the DTMB’s June labor market newsletter can be found here: milmi.org/_docs/publications/News/LMN/ LMN_0522.pdf.

April labor force trends and highlights

• Michigan’s workforce edged up by 0.3% over the month. In contrast, the national labor force declined by 0.2% since March 2022.

• During the first four months of 2022, total unemployment in the state declined by 36,000, or 14.7%.

• The statewide over-themonth unemployment decrease of 2.3% exceeded the national unemployment reduction of 0.2%.

• Michigan’s employment total advanced by 3.6% over the year, while the U.S. employment total rose by 4.5% since April 2021.

• Michigan’s jobless rate fell notably since the height of the pandemic in April 2020, dropping by 18.4% over the past two years.

• April’s statewide unemployment rate of 4.3% remained 0.5% above the February 2020 pre-pandemic rate of 3.8%.

April industry employment trends and highlights

• Manufacturing declined by 1,300, led by layoffs in transportation equipment manufacturing (-2,700).

• Statewide total nonfarm jobs advanced by 172,000, or 4.1 percent, over the year.

• The largest over-theyear numerical job gains occurred in the state’s leisure and hospitality sector (+50,000), manufacturing sector (+33,000), and professional and business services sector (+30,000).

• Total payroll employment surged by 926,000, or 27.2%, since the height of the pandemic in April 2020.

• However, payroll employment in April 2022 remained 127,000, or 2.9%, below the February 2020 pre-pandemic level.