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Coverage from across Michigan and the state Capitol with the Michigan Public Radio Network and Interlochen Public Radio.

Michigan Unemployment 7.4 Percent In April

Job growth in professional and financial services offset layoffs in Michigan’s auto industry to push the state’s unemployment rate down for the eighth month in a row. The new rate of 7.4 percent is one-tenth of a percentage point below where it was last month. And it’s one and a quarter percent below where it was a year ago.

Governor Rick Snyder says the numbers also show more people are looking for work.

“Our workforce in Michigan has been growing faster than the national average for the last year or so,” Snyder says. “That’s a healthy sign for our economy because it shows that more people have faith that there are jobs out there. That’s a good thing.”

Michigan’s combined rate of unemployment and under-employment remains high at 15-point-one percent. That number also counts people who have stopped looking for work and people working part-time who’d like to be full-time. 

Rick Pluta is Senior Capitol Correspondent for the Michigan Public Radio Network. He has been covering Michigan’s Capitol, government, and politics since 1987. His journalism background includes stints with UPI, The Elizabeth (NJ) Daily Journal, The (Pontiac, MI) Oakland Press, and WJR. He is also a lifelong public radio listener.