Michigan joblessness up to 7.7%

Oct. auto plant layoffs push unemployment to its highest since 1992.

Brian J. O'Connor / The Detroit News

The auto industry continued to add to Michigan's stubbornly high unemployment rate in October, as auto plant layoffs boosted the state's unemployment rate to 7.7 percent. It was the largest one-month drop in payroll jobs for the state so far this year and the highest Michigan unemployment rate since 1992.

The two-tenths of a percent rise from September's 7.5 percent rate came as weaker demand for cars and trucks from Detroit automakers prompted production cuts and more rounds of layoffs, said Rick Waclawek, director of the department's Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives.

"The October unemployment rate increase reflects short-term layoffs in the auto industry," he said.

Michigan's unemployment rate has been increasing each month since spring, far outdistancing the national rate, which held steady for October at 4.7 percent.

In September, as in many months for the past three years, Michigan led the nation with the worst unemployment rate.

October's 7.7 percent rate is six-tenths of a percentage point above Michigan's October 2006 unemployment rate of 7.1 percent. The national rate increased by just three-tenths of a percentage point in the same period.

Although unemployment increased by 9,000, overall employment was reduced by 43,000, cutting the state's civilian workforce by 34,000, the department said.