Michigan jobless rate drops, ties U.S. for first time in 15 years

Posted on May 21, 2015

LANSING — Michigan’s unemployment rate has fallen again and has pulled even with the national rate for the first time in 15 years.

The state announced Wednesday that the seasonally adjusted jobless rate dropped 0.2 points to 5.4 percent in April. The U.S. rate fell 0.1 points in the latest month.

The Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget said the state’s jobless rate has fallen 2 percentage points from 7.5 percent in April 2014. Michigan’s jobless rate now has fallen for 20 consecutive months since September 2013, it said.

The department said the number of unemployed people in Michigan fell 10,000 in the latest month to 257,000, while the state’s civilian labor force shrank by 6,000 to 4.741 million.

“To appreciate how far we’ve come, we need to remember where we began – ranked No. 50 in the nation,” Gov. Rick Snyder said in a statement. “We’ve cut Michigan’s unemployment rate by more than half since the end of 2010, creating nearly 400,000 private sector jobs.”