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http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-16/1087420797144690.xml

Michigan unemployment rate rises in May

By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
The Associated Press
6/16/2004, 6:42 p.m. ET

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan's unemployment rate rose in May to 6.5 percent, up four-tenths of a percent over April but lower than the May 2003 rate of 7.2 percent, state officials said Wednesday.

The statewide rate was nearly a full percentage point above May's national rate of 5.6 percent.

"The increase in Michigan's May unemployment rate primarily was due to labor force expansion," said Bruce Weaver, acting director of the Department of Labor Employment Growth's Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives. "Over the past year, the state has recorded a gain in employment and a small rise in the state labor pool."

Weaver said the number of people working or looking for work grew by 38,000 in May, but only 12,000 of those seeking work were able to find jobs. The unemployment rate was pushed up by the 26,000 who couldn't find jobs.

Seasonally adjusted Michigan payroll jobs rose by 8,000 in May to a total of 4.4 million. Most of the job growth came in the leisure and hospitality services sector, which added 6,000 jobs, while government added 2,000 jobs. Most other sectors recorded little change between April and May.

Although total payroll jobs rose in May, marking the third consecutive monthly increase, the state has lost 30,000 payroll jobs, or 0.7 percent, since May 2003.

The news came on the same day Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced several business expansions, including plans by Guardian Fiberglass to expand its Albion plant and by Spartan Chassis Inc. to expand its operations in Charlotte.

The state has lost 18,000 manufacturing jobs during the past year, but most of those losses came in mid-2003. Manufacturing jobs have been stable since October 2003, state figures show.

The state has fewer unemployed workers so far this year than in 2003, but the number of jobless continues to be higher than 2002.

"Michigan is starting to grow its way out of the challenges of the recent past to become an economic powerhouse in the 21st century. "Our well-trained work force and attractive incentives have helped us weather the storm. I look forward to announcing more investment and job creation as the year unfolds," the governor said in a statement released before the unemployment figures came out later in the day.

Average weekly earnings in manufacturing stayed nearly the same in May as the month before, but were up $27.59 to $914.03 over May 2003. Average weekly hours were up from 40.2 hours a year ago to 42.5 hours in May.

Part of the answer is the annual re tooling shutdown done every year by the automakers to great ready for their new models.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1155144/posts

U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Fell 15,000 to 336,000 Last Week
Bloomberg ^ | 06/17/04 | Bloomberg

Posted on 06/17/2004 6:22:20 AM PDT by Pikamax

U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Fell 15,000 to 336,000 Last Week June 17 (Bloomberg) -- The number of Americans filing initial jobless claims fell to 336,000 last week as rising demand prompted companies to retain workers, a government report showed.

First-time applications for unemployment benefits fell by 15,000 in a week curtailed by the national day of mourning for former President Ronald Reagan, from a revised 351,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said in Washington. The four- week moving average of claims, a less volatile measure, fell to 343,250 from 346,000.

The average number of weekly claims this year has fallen to 346,917 from about 402,000 last year as rising sales and profits have given companies confidence to boost hiring. The U.S. economy added 1.2 million jobs in the first five months of 2004 and those gains are likely to be sustained, economists said.

``We're in the early stages of a long expansion,'' said Douglas Lee, president of Economics From Washington, a research firm in Potomac, Maryland, before the report.

Economists had expected the number of claims reported today to fall to 340,000 from the 352,000 initially reported last week, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. The 39 estimates ranged from 330,000 to 355,000.

This is the second consecutive jobless claims report covering a week in which federal offices were closed for a day. A portion of last week's decline can be attributed to the closing last Friday of state offices for the day of mourning, a Labor Department spokesman said.

Continuing Claims

The number of people continuing to collect state jobless benefits rose by 31,000 to 2.895 million in the week that ended June 5 from a revised 2.864 million a week earlier. The statistics are reported with a one-week lag to initial claims.

The four-week moving average for continuing claims fell to 2.921 million from 2.930 million.

``The proper claims level has reasserted itself,'' said Chris Rupkey, an economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in New York. ``We're in the middle of a red hot labor market.''

Initial claims is one of 10 data points that comprise the Conference Board's index of leading indicators. Claims of between 380,000 to 400,000 are considered the dividing line between workforce growth and contraction, economists said.

Michael Englund, chief economist at Action Economics LLC in Boulder, Colorado, said the level of the four-week moving average of claims is indicative of a strengthening economy moving through the normal contraction-growth cycle. Jobless claims start out high during a recession, diminish as the economy moves into a rapid growth rate and then stabilize at that diminished level until the next slowdown, he said.

No Slowdown

``We don't see any evidence of slowing,'' Englund said. ``And we don't look for an uptrend in claims, with the exception of the week-to-week gyrations that we normally see.''

The insured unemployment rate, which tends to move with the jobless rate, was unchanged at 2.3 percent in the week ended June 5. Twenty-eight states and territories during that week reported a decrease in new claims, while 25 had an increase.

The U.S. added almost a quarter of a million jobs in May and 346,000 in April, according to the Labor Department. The workforce now stands at 131.2 million and is on a pace that will recoup all jobs lost since the start of the recession in 2001, if it's sustained through November.

Investors are watching claims to gauge the impact from annual factory shutdowns for auto retooling, which typically occurs between June and August. Automakers idle assembly workers each year while they re-equip factories to build new models.