Can someone tell me

[MJLO 582]

hey all,

I've been trying to find some hard data on the unemployment figures in the state of Michigan,

I was told the other day that the unemployment in the Grand Rapids area was the highest in the country.

I just can't believe this to be true, but could one of you with those special resources that you have check and post the actual unemployment numbers for the markets in the state?

thanks

MJ

[Lmichigan 33]

Here you go:

http://www.michlmi.org/

http://www.michlmi.org/LMI/lmadata/laus/lausindx.htm

[GRDadof3 2966]

Grand Rapids - Wyoming Metro area was at 5.4% in Sept. 2005, down from 5.5% in August:

http://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.mi_grandrapids_msa.htm

Similar to Atlanta (5.4), Chicago (5.7), Kansas City (5.1), Buffalo (5.2), Charlotte (5.0), Akron (5.4), Portland (5.4), Providence (5.6), Dallas - FW (5.6), Seattle (5.0), San Jose (5.2), Tucson (5.0), Memphis (5.5), Houston (6.2), Topeka (5.5), Hartford (5.1), and Denver (5.1), just to name a few.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.t01.htm

National average in Sept. was 5.1%, which we would hit if 1100 people found work out of the labor force of 400,000 or so, or if the total labor force declined and the number of employed stayed the same. As you can see by the chart, GR Metro is not great, but not nearly the highest in the country. The only downside is the civilian workforce has dropped about 8000 since April, but I don't know whether those people left the unemployment system or if it dropped for other reasons. Hope that helps

[MJLO 582]

that does help, thanks alot GRdad, you are an endless fountain of information. My sources get tapped out quickly and i have no idea how to use this new fangled internet.