Mich. reports jobless rate drop at summer's end

LANSING (AP) -- Michigan is reporting a seasonal 1.1 percentage point drop in joblessness statewide and in all 17 regional employment markets. The Department of Technology, Management & Budget said last Thursday that Michigan's seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate stood at 9.2 percent, down from 10.3 percent in July. The rate was 10.3 percent in August 2011. The department says the main reason for the drop is a normal shrinkage in the size of the labor force at the end of the summer. The Detroit labor market's jobless rate fell to 10.9 percent in August from 11.9 percent a month earlier. In the Grand Rapids area, joblessness fell to 6.9 percent from 7.9 percent. The department says the Upper Peninsula's jobless rate fell to 8.4 percent from 9.5 percent. Published: Mon, Oct 1, 2012