LANSING – The number of people now working in Michigan is at its lowest level since July 1995, figures show, and the state has lost some 9 percent of its total jobs since its peak level in June 2000.
According to unemployment figures released Wednesday by the Department of Labor and Economic Growth, the number of people working in the state totaled 4.269 million.
That is the lowest number of people working in the state since July 1995, according to the Senate Fiscal Agency. That month the state showed that 4.266 million people were working.
The state’s economy saw some of its most robust economic growth in its history during the 1990s.
That growth in jobs peaked in June 2000, when the state reported that 4.692 million were employed.
Since then the state has seen the number of people working fall by more than 440,000, about 9 percent from the June 2000 peak, SFA officials said.
Lost manufacturing jobs account for more than half the total job loss, officials said. As of last month, more than 289,000 manufacturing jobs had been lost since June 2000, nearly 32 percent. In June 2000, there were more than 904,000 manufacturing jobs in Michigan.
The job loss figures are “extremely disturbing,” one official said.
In the May revenue estimating conference continued job losses were anticipated through 2008, but there is some concern that the ongoing losses may outpace what had earlier been forecast.
The July unemployment rate was unchanged from June at a seasonally adjusted 7.2 percent.
Those people with jobs, however, seem to be doing quite well, which helps explain why income tax revenues are up for the 2006-07 fiscal year. SFA officials said companies are reluctant to hire new workers out of fear over the continuing economic slowdown, they said, so their workers are being paid higher wages.
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