Michigan's March Jobless Rate Down Slightly

Lansing – Michigan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in March declined slightly by one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.7 percent, according to data released today by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget (DTMB).  Total employment increased by 3,000 over the month as the number of unemployed in the state decreased by 3,000.  Michigan’s workforce was little changed in March.

The Michigan jobless rate in March 2018 was one-tenth of a percentage point above the state’s March 2017 rate of 4.6 percent.  The national jobless rate declined by four-tenths of a percentage point over this period.  The state’s unemployment rate in March was six-tenths of a percentage point above the national rate.  The U.S. jobless was unchanged at 4.1 percent in March.

“Like the U.S. as a whole, Michigan’s monthly jobless rates have been very steady since September 2017,” said Jason Palmer, director of the Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives.  “Also similar to the nation, Michigan payroll jobs have risen consistently since early fall 2017.”

Monthly Labor Force Trends & Highlights

• Michigan’s 4.7 percent March unemployment rate matched the monthly rates recorded from September 2017 through January 2018.
• The state’s minor total employment gain in March was the first monthly increase since October.
• Michigan’s labor force rose in March for the second consecutive month after recording minor reductions from November through January.
• From the fourth quarter 2017 to the first quarter 2018, Michigan’s quarterly jobless rate was unchanged at 4.7 percent.  The rates over the last several quarters were up slightly from the recent low rate of 4.4 percent posted in the second quarter 2017.
• Since March 2017, total employment in Michigan advanced by 23,000 or 0.5 percent while the number of unemployed rose slightly by 7,000 or 3.1 percent.  Nationally, total employment rose by 1.4 percent and the number of unemployed fell by 8.2 percent over the year.

MICHIGAN

Labor Force Estimates

Seasonally Adjusted

(Data in Thousands)

Detroit Metropolitan Area’s March Jobless Rate Unchanged

The Detroit-Warren-Dearborn Metropolitan Statistical Area’s (MSA’s) seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in March of 4.5 percent was unchanged from the area’s January and February rate.  Both total employment and the number of unemployed in the region declined slightly by 1,000 over the month, which pushed the area’s workforce down by 2,000 in March.  After reaching recent highs in October, the Detroit metro region’s labor force and total employment levels have recorded minor consecutive monthly reductions, while the number of unemployed has been essentially flat over this period.

From March 2017 to March 2018, the Detroit metropolitan area’s jobless rate edged down by one-tenth of a percentage point.  Over that period, total employment advanced by 11,000 or 0.5 percent and the number of unemployed declined by 2,000 or 2.1 percent.  The Detroit MSA’s workforce rose moderately by 9,000 or 0.4 percent since March 2017.  The over-the-year total employment gain matched the statewide percentage gain, while the increase in the region’s workforce slightly lagged the state’s growth rate of 0.6 percent.

Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA

Labor Force Estimates

Seasonally Adjusted

(Data in Thousands)

March Payroll Jobs Up

According to the monthly survey of employers, seasonally adjusted Michigan payroll jobs rose in March by 10,000 to 4,424,000.  Payroll jobs increased over the month in Professional and business services (+4,000), Trade, transportation and utilities (+3,000) and Construction (+2,000).  The state’s remaining major industry sectors were little changed in March.

Industry Employment Trends and Highlights                    

• The March 2018 statewide job gain was the sixth consecutive monthly increase dating back to October.  Over that period, payroll jobs in the state rose by 48,000 or 1.1 percent.
• Michigan job increases in early 2018 outpaced gains in early 2017.  Over the first three months of 2018, monthly job additions averaged 10,000 per month.  Over the same period in 2017, monthly gains averaged 6,000 per month.
• The over-the-month jump in Professional and business services continued an upward trend recorded in this sector since November.  From October 2017 to March 2018, jobs were up in the sector by 15,000 or 2.3 percent, with the largest gains posted over the last two months (+10,000).
• Trade, transportation and utilities, which showed no apparent trend in 2017 (jobs were flat from January to December 2017), displayed three consecutive months of job gains to start 2018.  From December to March, jobs in this sector rose by 6,000 or 0.8 percent.
• Construction continued to notch monthly job gains in March.  Monthly additions have been very steady, with jobs in this sector rising in 11 of the last 12 months.  Since March 2017, Construction employment was up by 7.5 percent, which was the largest percentage increase of any major sector in the state.
• From March 2017 to March 2018, payroll jobs in Michigan increased by 61,000 or 1.4 percent, which was similar the national gain over this period of 1.5 percent.  Professional and business services (+13,000), Construction (+12,000) and Leisure and hospitality services (+12,000) were the leading sectors in numerical job growth over the year in the state.  These three sectors accounted for 61 percent of Michigan’s total payroll job growth since March 2017.
• Seasonally adjusted average weekly hours and earnings of production workers in Manufacturing increased over the month as well as over the year.

Note: 

Data Revisions:

The data in this release reflects recently revised historical estimates.  All states in the nation participate in this revision process facilitated by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). 

Seasonally adjusted labor force estimates for 1976-2017 for Michigan and 1990-2017 for the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA were revised.

In addition, all unadjusted payroll job data was revised for 2016-2017.  Certain industries had more extensive data revisions, some back to 1990. Seasonally adjusted payroll job data was revised back to 2013 for all industries. Some sectors had more extensive data revisions, some back to 1990. For newly revised data go to www.milmi.org or contact DTMB at 313-456-3090.

Previously published data for these years should be replaced with this new series.

Methodology Changes:

Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS)

The seasonal adjustment process for employment and unemployment data has been recently changed by BLS. LAUS will no longer attempt to simultaneously control and seasonally adjust all of the state estimates within each census division. Instead, seasonal adjustment will occur externally by applying a filter to not seasonally adjusted estimates. A trend filter will then be applied to smooth out irregular variation and reduce month-to-month volatility.

Current Employment Statistics (CES)

With the release of January 2018 data, the Current Employment Statistics (CES) state and area program will convert to concurrent seasonal adjustment, which uses all available estimates, including those for the current month, in developing seasonal factors. In the past, the CES program projected seasonal factors once a year during the annual benchmark process.  Both methods use the same 10-year historical sample data as the input. For more information on this change, please visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics website:

https://www.bls.gov/sae/saeconcurrent.htm