LANSING – The rate of underutilized labor in Michigan, which includes the unemployed as well as the underemployed, improved at a faster rate in 2013 than a similar rate did nationally, a state report said. But the state rate of those not working and working part-time is still significantly higher than the national rate.
The report, part of the Winter 2014 employment trends report issued by the Michigan Labor Market Information division of the Department of Technology, Management and Budget, showed that the underutilized rate of labor in Michigan in 2013 averaged 15.8 percent of the total workforce.
In contrast, in November the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate stood at 8.8 percent.
The 15.8 percent rate of underutilized labor compares to a national rate of 14.1 percent, the report said.
However, in 2012, the state had an underutilized labor rate of 16.6 percent, while the national rate was 14.7 percent. So the state saw a somewhat faster rate of reduction in the rate than did the nation.
The underutilized labor rate includes those who are listed as unemployed, which in November stood at 419,800 people in the state.
It also includes 86,600 persons who are “marginally-attached” to the labor market, defined as those persons who have looked for work in the last year but not in the last month.
And it includes 266,000 people who are considered “involuntary part-time workers.” Those are persons working part-time, but who would rather work full-time or who work part-time to make up for insufficient resources through pensions and other income.
At 15.8 percent, though, the report said the percentage of underutilized labor is at its lowest rate since 2008.
During the peak of the Great Recession, the rate of underutilized labor shot up to 21.5 percent in 2009 (nationally it hit a high of 16.7 percent in 2010).
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