Michigan’s employment picture has remained bleak for more than six months since the novel coronavirus began to plague the economy.
Last week, 18,040 people in the state filed new jobless claims, up slightly from the revised 17,402 the week before. New claims remain nearly triple the 7,406 initial claims filed in the same week last year, according to Federal Reserve data.
However, employers maintain a job backlog by creating more or as many jobs as they are sacking. In the week ended September 19, 401,381 filed for unemployment insurance in the state, up from 441,816 the week before.
But the state’s employment rate hasn’t budged, remaining at 8.7 percent in July and August, signaling the long-term fragility of the state’s economy.
Nationwide, US jobless claims for the week ended September 26 totaled 837,000, up from 873,000 the week before. Nearly 11.8 million in the United States remain on some form of federally administered unemployment insurance.
This was the fifth straight week that new jobless claims have fallen below 1 million since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the US in March. Last week’s number remains higher than any other weekly number the US had seen before the pandemic.
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