The unemployment picture in Michigan is still bad. It stands at 13.1% now. The worst it's been since the early 1980's.
Now, a new report by the Michigan League for Human Services puts the long-term unemployment picture into perspective. In 2000, people unemployed for more than 26 weeks, accounted for 6.5% of the total number of unemployed. Today, the long-term unemployed account for 40.8% of the unemployed.
The report says,
When a state such as Michigan has significant long-term unemployment, it depresses the economy even further.
The report's authors said nearly 130,000 long-term unemployed "narrowly avoided catastrophe" when Congress voted to extend unemployment benefits this summer.
