Michigan unemployment increased by 16.6 thousand last week
(The Center Square) – Michigan new unemployment claims ticked downward last week after a nearly 11% accumulated spike the previous month.
According to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday morning, Michigan reported 16,647 initial unemployment claims for the week ending Jan. 30, which is down 1,799 new claims from the previous week’s 18,446 initial claims.
All told, 202,576 Michigan workers filed unemployment claims last week, up 14,359 claims from the previous week’s 188,217 total claims.
Michigan unemployment surged 10.9% in December, when another 64,400 worker filed for unemployment benefits after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services imposed shutdown orders of restaurants, bars and other businesses through the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Only Hawaii reported a higher percentage increase of unemployment at 13.8%.
Michigan’s December total job losses ranked it first in the nation, behind California at 52,200 jobs lost; Minnesota at 49,800 jobs lost; Pennsylvania at 37,600 jobs lost; and New York at 37,200 jobs lost. States adding jobs during the same time period are Texas at 64,000 jobs added; Georgia at 44,700 jobs added; North Carolina at 33,600 jobs added; Wisconsin at 51,100 jobs added; and South Carolina at 14,600 jobs added.
Nationwide, 779,000 new unemployment claims were reported last week, down 33,000 initial claims from the previous week.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Monday reported a net loss of 14.6 million U.S. private sector jobs during the second quarter of 2020; with 5.7 million jobs gained and 20.4 million jobs lost. BLS noted: “This is the largest quarterly net job loss recorded in these data (which begin in 1992). Job losses in the second quarter of 2020 were more than 5 times the next largest quarterly job loss of 2.7 million jobs in the first quarter of 2009.”
Disclaimer: This content is distributed by The Center Square
