MARQUETTE, MI-- The jobless rate in the Upper Peninsula declined in September by 0.4 percentage points to 3.7 percent.
It’s the lowest recorded September jobless rate for the region since at least 1990.
In September, jobless rates moved lower in all of the U.P.’s 15 counties. The reductions ranged from 0.8 percentage points in Chippewa County to 0.1 percentage points in Iron County.
Mackinac County continued to post the lowest unemployment rate in Michigan at 2.4 percent. Below-regional-average jobless rates also occurred in the counties of Dickinson, at 3 percent, Menominee, at 3.4 percent, and Marquette, with 3.6 percent.
The highest unemployment rate in the U.P. in September was reported in Ontonagon County, at 5.5 percent.
September jobless rate cuts in many Upper Peninsula counties were tied to a continued seasonal drop in the number of unemployed persons actively seeking work and a small gain in employment. In the counties of Marquette, Houghton, and Chippewa significant increases in total employment occurred due to the start of the new post-secondary academic year.
