Thursday, January 22, 2009

Michigan Unemployment Rate Climbing Higher. Michigan’s unemployment hit its highest level in 17 years during the third quarter of 2008 with drops in employment in the building construction, motor vehicle and vehicle parts sectors, according to the latest quarterly Economic Security Bulletin from the Michigan League for Human Services. Counties with the biggest increase in the unemployment rate (third quarter 2008 v. third quarter 2007) were Roscommon, Genesee, Missaukee, Lenawee, Tuscola, Monroe, Sanilac, Oscoda, St. Joseph and Wexford. The report also found a 12.1 percent increase in the number of applications for the state cash assistance program in the third quarter of 2008 when compared with the third quarter of 2007. The caseload, however, fell 18.6 percent as the number of households receiving cash assistance fell below 70,000 for the first time in several years. The decline reflects the growing difficulty in qualifying for the cash assistance program combined with harsher sanctions. Counties with the biggest increase in applications for cash assistance were Baraga, Branch, Delta, Emmet, St. Joseph, Calhoun, Ottawa, Livingston, Cass and Mackinac. For the full report, click here. (Please note that the third-quarter unemployment numbers do not reflect the 10.6 percent December unemployment rate announced Wednesday – the highest since December 1984.) [Red Tape Blog] 2:14:56 PM     Michigan Chamber of Commerce Calls For Investigation of Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency's Inability To Keep Up With Telephone Calls. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce is seeking a state probe into why phone lines are overwhelmed by the calls from thousands of unemployed workers requesting help. Chamber officials blamed the state Unemployment Insurance Agency and Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration for the logjam, saying they failed to properly anticipate the state's rising unemployment rate and the flood of unemployed workers seeking help. Wendy Block, director of health policy and human resources for the chamber, said the Legislature should begin an immediate probe of the problem. For the full article, see Scott Davis, "State's jobless phone service under fire; Chamber calls for probe into reasons it couldn't handle load", Lansing State Journal, January 21, 2009. For a related article, see Mark Hornbeck, "Michigan to hire more workers to handle jobless claims", Detroit News, January 21, 2009. For another, see Kathy Barks Hoffman, "Michigan to add unemployment call center, more staff", MLive, January 21, 2009. [Red Tape Blog] 11:18:51 AM     Measuring Up In Higher Education. Other nations are advancing more quickly than the United States in preparing citizens for college success according to Measuring Up 2008: The National Report Card on Higher Education from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. The report card grades all 50 states on five areas: preparation, participation, affordability, completion, and benefits. It shows how income, race and ethnicity and geography are playing an increasing role in determining which Americans receive an education that prepares them for college. Unfortunately Michigan receives an F in affordability. But on the other hand nearly all of the other states in the U.S. also received Fs. [Red Tape Blog] 11:17:55 AM     Barack Obama's Favorite Books For a list of Barack Obama's favorite books, take a look at this article posted an ABEBooks.com (which is an excellent place to look for used books, by the way). 10:00:29 AM

© Copyright 2009 Jocelyn Shaw. Last update: 2/2/2009; 12:11:00 PM. Photo curtesy of Marjorie O'Brien