You are viewing this article in the AnnArbor.com archives. For the latest breaking news and updates in Ann Arbor and the surrounding area, see MLive.com/ann-arbor
Posted on Thu, Jul 22, 2010 : 3:10 p.m.

Washtenaw County adds jobs, but unemployment rate increases to 9.3 percent

By Nathan Bomey

The number of employed Washtenaw County residents increased 2,400 from May to June, but the area's unemployment rate rose to 9.3 percent as more people looked for jobs, according to statistics released today by the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth.

The unemployment rate among Washtenaw County residents rose from 8.8 percent in May to 9.3 percent in June. That's down from 10.0 percent in June 2009.

The number of county residents with jobs rose from 164,700 in May to 167,100 in June. The number of people who would like a job -- a figure that includes people who have one -- went from 180,600 to 184,200. People who are unemployed but have given up on looking for a job are not counted in the unemployment rate.

The rise in the number of people looking for jobs is partly attributable to teenagers seeking summer jobs and to long-jobless workers deciding to start their search once again, said Mark Reffitt, a regional economic analyst for DELEG.

"It’s about right at the average expected monthly movement in the rate," he said.

The total number of jobs physically located within the county's borders increased from 189,000 to 190,000 from May to June.

The area's professional and business services sector drove most of the growth by adding 800 jobs. In a typical month, that area records an increase of 300 jobs, the state said.

The number of jobs in educational and health services dipped 300. The number of jobs in financial activities increased 200.

Washtenaw's unemployment rate in June was the third lowest among the state's 83 counties behind Mackinac County (6.2) and Cheboygan County (9.0). Wayne County's rate was 15.4, Oakland's was 13.0 and Livingston's was 11.8.

Meanwhile, U.S. legislators may make the pending unemployment benefit extension bill law today. The bill would extend payments for 2.3 million unemployed workers in the U.S.

Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.

Comments

djacks24

Fri, Jul 23, 2010 : 5 p.m.

If you call adding temporary public sector jobs like census workers and road construction workers funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment act "progress", then sure the liberals will be riding that progress in through November to try and fool the kool-aid drinkers like you into voting for them and letting them continue their agenda of running the private sector into the ground and having the government control evrything. The private sector consisting of a majority of small businesses are terrified to hire anyone now due to the implications of the screwed up health reform bill and the banks not lending, just to name a few of many things.

guyfroma2mi

Fri, Jul 23, 2010 : 3:23 p.m.

All one has to do to assign blame, if that's the objective, is to look at a simple bar graph. U.S. Job losses peak at over 800,000 a month at the beginning of 2009, and every month thereafter, almost without exception, the monthly bars have crept back up toward zero, and have remained above that level ever since. Yes, it took a number of months to get back up to zero, during which time the overall rate continued to climb, but the fact remains that nearly every single month that Obama has been in the White House was better than the prior month. Seems to me that the same folks that think his and the Democrats' inability to step in and flip a switch and- Tada!- an economy bleeding 800,000 jobs is suddently gaining jobs are either smokin' some wacky tobacky or just plain don't get basic economics or math; in order to accomplish that, the government would have had to directly hire 800,000 people overnight and add that many more every single month thereafter just took bring it up to and stay at zero- and that's assuming the private sector didn't get worse before it got better. But then gosh, are these not the same folks who every time we have a cold week want to use it as evidence that this whole global warming thing is just a scam- and we can just go back to dumping all kinds of toxins into the air because it'll save us a couple bucks a month?

Top Cat

Thu, Jul 22, 2010 : 6:23 p.m.

Obama supporters will no doubt be blaming the policies of Eisenhower, Coolidge and Lincoln before Nov 2. The political left loves Europe as its role model. They have succeeded bringing its stagnation and high unemployment here. Good Night and You're Out of Luck

stunhsif

Thu, Jul 22, 2010 : 5:53 p.m.

Holy Cow, I know people are still blaming George Bush for the bad economy but one UAW person here is blaming Ron Reagan who was last president in 1989 I believe, plus he died 6 years ago. And that is Reagan, not Regan! Good Day, No Luck Needed

uawisok

Thu, Jul 22, 2010 : 3:29 p.m.

More evidence that the Regan/Bush degregulation policies have failed working Americans....We will remember FOREVER!!!

Milton Shift

Thu, Jul 22, 2010 : 3:27 p.m.

The Obama administration has continued the failed policies of the Bush administration. You can be certain that any successor will be the same story. Such dictates the logic of capital.

InsideTheHall

Thu, Jul 22, 2010 : 2:53 p.m.

More evidence that the Obama/Granholm economic policies have failed. We will remember in November.