The state unemployment rate for February slid by one-tenth of a percentage point from January, down to 7.7 percent, giving the state six straight months of declines for the jobless rate.
According to data released Wednesday afternoon by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget total employment in the state increased by 26,000 jobs in February. The number of men and women looking for a job dropped by 4,000, and a total of 21,000 workers joined the labor force. That indicates that more workers felt optimistic about landing a job, and that most of them did.
Total employment includes self-employed workers and independent contractors, and is sometimes at odds with the more narrow measurement of payroll jobs — the total number of workers getting paychecks from an employer. During February, however, non-farm payroll jobs also increased by 4,000.
The new jobless rate is 1.1 percentage points better than February 2013, but still above the national rate of 6.7 percent.
