Ontonagon County leads state in unemployment

Ontonagon and Baraga counties were the only two western Upper Peninsula counties to see unemployment rates improve in July, according to the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget.

In Ontonagon County, the jobless rate fell from 13.1 percent in June to 12.6 percent in July. A year agoit was 14 percent.

The labor force took a jump of 125 to 2,550 in July and 100 more people were employed in Ontonagon County. Total unemployment stayed the same at 325.

Despite that good news, Ontonagon County recorded the highest jobless rate in Michigan.

The unemployment rate in Gogebic County inched upward in July from 9.3 oercent in June to 9.6 percent in July. A year ago it was 11.1 percent. The labor force rose by 50 to 6,975. Although total employment rose by 25 in Gogebic County, the number of people unemployed also rose by 25.

Baraga County, usually at the top of the unemployment statistics in the U.P., saw its unemployment rate fall nearly 1 percent, from 12.7 percent in June to 11.8 percent in July. It was down from 15.6 percent a year ago.

Houghton County’s rate rose from 8.9 percent to 9.1 percent, but was better than the 11.1 percent rate a year ago.

Keweenaw County’s unemployment rate ticked up just one-tenth of a point, from 10.1 percent to 10.2 percent, down from 12.6 percent a year ago.

The jobless rate in the U.P. rose by .2 of a percentage point to 8.5 percent in July. It was up from June, but less than a year ago, at 9.9 percent.

Statewide, the unemployment rate rose 0.7 percentage points last month. The state’s seasonally unadjusted joblessness rate reached 8.6 percent in July, up from 7.9 percent in June. It was 9.9 percent in July 2013.