By John Raffel
Correspondent
MARION – The December unemployment report from the Michigan Department of Technology Management and Budget puts the figure for Osceola County at 4.5 percent, ranking it in a tie with Houghton County and Calhoun County for 34th in the state.
Livingston County with 2.4 percent ranks as the lowest rate in the state followed by Oakland County (2.5 percent), Ottawa County (2.9 percent), and Washetaw County (3.0 percent).
Mackinac County has the highest at 15.4 percent.
The rates for other area counties are Midland County at 19th with 4.1 percent, Isabella County tied for 23rd at 4.2 percent, Wexford County 39th at 4.8 percent, Missaukee County at 4.9 percent for 40th and Clare County 66th at 7.2 percent.
Michigan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained constant over the month at 4.3 percent, according to data released recently by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget. Employment in the state edged down by 1,000, while unemployment was unchanged over the month, resulting in a minor workforce reduction of 1,000 during December.
“Michigan’s 2022 labor market continued to show improvement, with an annual jobless rate only 0.2 percentage points above the 2019 pre-pandemic annual rate,” said Wayne Rourke, labor market information director for the Michigan Center for Data and Analytics, in a statement. “Annual payroll jobs also advanced notably over the year.”
The U.S. jobless rate receded by one-tenth of a percentage point between November and December to 3.5 percent.