(Lansing, MI – AP) – The state says Michigan’s unemployment rate rose to 5.3% in February, while the number of people entering the job market continued to grow. The Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget said the rate rose from 5.2% in January and compared with a national February jobless rate of 4.7%. Last month’s jobless rate in Michigan was three-tenths of a percentage point higher than the state’s year-ago rate of 5.0%. The agency says the state’s workforce rose by 23,000 during February, with increases in both total employment by 17,000 jobs and in unemployed workers by 7,000. It says February marked the second consecutive monthly jobless rate increase in Michigan and continued an upward trend from a low of 4.8% last May and June.
