November 06, 2024
With Veterans Day occurring on November 11, this month’s Michigan Works! Regional Update focuses on veterans in the SEMCA Michigan Works! region. As one of the larger Michigan Works! areas in the state, it is included in the recently released 2023 one-year estimates from the American Community Survey.
In total, the SEMCA area had an adult population (age 18 and over) of nearly 988,500 in 2023. This accounted for 12.5 percent of the total adults statewide. There were just over 50,600 veterans in the region in 2023, accounting for 11.5 percent of veterans statewide. Of these veterans, 91.2 percent were male, and 8.8 percent were female. Comparatively, the statewide share of female veterans measured 8.2 percent.
Within the SEMCA region, 54.5 percent of veterans were 65 and older. This was 1.0 percentage point lower than the share of veterans statewide. Among nonveterans, the SEMCA region saw 22.0 percent of its adult population older than 65, 0.6 percentage points less than the statewide share.
The veteran population age 18 to 64 in the SEMCA region had a higher labor force participation rate (82.8 percent) compared to veterans statewide (75.1 percent). The jobless rate among this population also was lower in the region (2.0 percent) compared to 3.8 percent statewide. SEMCA region nonveterans in this age group had a lower participation rate and higher jobless rate comparatively at 77.5 percent and 5.0 percent, respectively.
The poverty rate among SEMCA region veterans was 6.0 percent. This was much lower than the poverty rate for the region’s general population (12.3 percent). Veterans statewide also had a lesser poverty rate of 8.8 percent compared to 12.4 percent for the general population.
Poverty Rates for Nonveterans and Veterans
Source: 2023 One-Year Estimates, American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau
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