Michigan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in December jumped upward by a full percentage point to 10.6%, according to data released Wednesday, January 21. Total unemployment rose by 47,000, as the state labor force declined by 21,000 over the month.

The U.S. jobless rate in December rose by four-tenths of a percentage point, to 7.2%.

Michigan's December 2008 jobless rate was above the state's rate of 7.4% a year ago, in December 2007. In the same period, the national jobless rate recorded an advance of two and three-tenths percentage points.

"Job losses accelerated in the second half of 2008 in Michigan and the U.S.," said Rick Waclawek, director of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives. "As a result, Michigan's jobless rate rose nearly two percentage points since September 2008."

Monthly Labor Force Trends and Highlights

• Michigan's unemployment rate in December was the highest monthly rate for the state since December 1984.

• Total employment in Michigan has fallen every month this year since January.

• Since December 2007 (the first month of the current U.S. recession), unemployment in Michigan increased by 147,000, or 39.5%. Nationally, unemployment rose slightly faster, by 47.3%, in the same period.

• With another reduction of the state's labor force in December, Michigan's work force has contracted over the year by 95,000.