Michigan's August jobless rate steady at 13.1 pct

9/15/2010
ASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT — Michigan's unemployment rate has remained steady at 13.1 percent in the latest monthly figures.

State officials said Wednesday that Michigan lost about 20,000 manufacturing jobs and 11,000 professional and business services jobs. Government jobs fell by 11,000, including 4,000 temporary census workers.

The number of unemployed declined about 3,000 to 634,000.

August's seasonally adjusted jobless rate released by the state Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth was down from the August 2009 state rate of 14.3 percent.

The rate remained significantly above the national August rate of 9.6 percent.

Michigan had the nation's second-highest unemployment rate in July, trailing only Nevada.