Southeast Michigan jobless rate fell nearly a percentage point in December

Posted on January 27, 2011

Southeast Michigan posted another monthly decline in jobless rates in December, in line with most of Michigan’s major labor markets, according to data released today by the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth.

The Detroit metropolitan statistical area’s seasonally unadjusted rate dropped from 12 percent in November to 11.1 percent in December — the largest decrease of all regions in the state over the period.

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate for the Detroit metropolitan statistical area of Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Lapeer, Livingston and St. Clair counties was down 3.8 percentage points from the 14.9 percent recorded in December 2009.

Labor & Economic Growth also released preliminary annual average data showing the Detroit MSA with a 14.1 percent unemployment rate for 2010, compared with 15.1 percent in 2009.

In the Ann Arbor metropolitan statistical area, the monthly jobless rate declined to 6.6 percent in December from 7.2 percent in November.

The December rate for the MSA, which consists of Washtenaw County, was also down 2.6 percentage points from a year ago, when the rate was 9.2 percent.

However, the MSA’s annual average was unchanged from 2009 to 2010, at 8.6 percent.

Overall, unemployment rates from 2009 to 2010 dropped in 10 of the state’s 17 regions, Labor & Economic Growth said, although rate reductions were, for the most part, minor.

“Looking at the broader picture for the year, after recording substantial jobless rate jumps from 2008 to 2009 during the national recession, nearly all of the state’s local labor markets stabilized in 2010,” Rick Waclawek, director of Labor & Economic Growth’s Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives, said in a news release.