June 18 | DHHS To Lift Remaining COVID Restrictions June 22, Billions In Federal COVID Supplemental Funding Passes House
June 17, 2021- DHHS To Lift Remaining COVID Restrictions June 22
- Billions In Federal COVID Supplemental Funding Passes House, Senate
- GOP’s Voter ID Bill Passes Senate In Fiery Floor Debate
- Redistricting Commissioners Call Public Hearings Thus Far A Success
- May Unemployment Ticks Up To 5% Amid Modest Workforce Gain
DHHS To Lift Remaining COVID Restrictions June 22
The state’s COVID-19 order limiting the size of indoor gatherings at non-residential establishments to 50 percent of capacity and requiring the unvaccinated to wear a face mask when indoors will end June 22, nine days earlier than originally planned, Governor Gretchen Whitmer said today.
Once the order lifts, restaurants and bars will be able to operate at full capacity as will gyms, retailers, museums, libraries and other indoor venues that been limited for more than a year.
The move comes as the state’s COVID-19 numbers have plummeted with the percentage of residents 16 and older having had the first dose of a vaccine at 60.6 percent as of Tuesday.
“Today is a day that we have all been looking forward to, as we can safely get back to normal day-to-day activities and put this pandemic behind us,” Ms. Whitmer said in a statement. “We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the medical experts and health professionals who stood on the front lines to keep us all safe. And we are incredibly thankful to all of the essential workers who kept our state moving. Thanks to the millions of Michiganders who rolled up their sleeves to get the safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine, we have been able to make these changes ahead of schedule. Our top priority going forward is utilizing the federal relief funding in a smart, sustainable way as we put Michigan back to work and jumpstart our economy. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ensure that Michigan’s families, small businesses, and communities emerge from this pandemic stronger than ever before.”
DHHS also is lifting its orders with restrictions on entry into congregate care and juvenile justice facilities, for mandatory COVID testing for juvenile justice facility staff and DHHS hospitals staff, among other measures.
Billions In Federal COVID Supplemental Funding Passes House, Senate
Roughly $6 billion in federal coronavirus relief aid was passed by the House and Senate on Tuesday covering massive infusions of federal spending to assist K-12 schools, food assistance for families in need and more.
The actions in each chamber was seen as another positive sign as talks continue on the budget for the upcoming 2021-22 fiscal year between the administration of Governor Gretchen Whitmer and legislative leaders.
About $4.38 billion in federal COVID funding for K-12 schools was voted out of the Senate through an S-1 substitute version of HB 4421, which passed by a 35-0 vote. The bill is a fiscal year 2020-21 School Aid Fund supplemental appropriations bill. It still needs House approval before going to Ms. Whitmer.
“Many Michigan students struggled and continue to struggle with the sudden and confusing change to virtual or hybrid learning for more than a year during the pandemic,” Sen. Jim Stamas (R-Midland), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement following the vote. “This supplemental would invest $4.3 billion in federal assistance to help our children recover from any learning loss they experienced and to ensure that our schools and teachers have the resources necessary to provide their students with the instruction and support they need.”
A key change in the substitute was the removal of proposal by the House to use reserve funding to provide a per-pupil equalization payment for districts receiving less than $1,093 per pupil through their district’s ESSER III formula allocation. This change led to disappointment from education organizations following the vote. Most of the federal funds are distributed through the Title I formula that heavily favors districts with larger numbers of impoverished pupils.
The lion’s share of the funding was $3.35 billion of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief III funding through the American Rescue Plan to be distributed to districts.
The remaining $840.7 million ESSER II funds – which are not yet appropriated – is also contained within the bill for school districts. These were the funds remaining from the second coronavirus relief bill signed at the end of the Trump administration that did not get disbursed because Ms. Whitmer vetoed a bill, an action that prevented the allocation of the funds. A total of $5.55 million in ESSER II funding for administrative costs is also included in the supplemental.
A total of $92 million form the Emergency Assistance to Nonpublic Schools funding is contained within the bill for nonpublic schools while another $86.8 million is also provided from Governor’s Emergency Education Relief funding for nonpublic schools.
Changes to provisions related to summer school as well as before- and after-school programs were also made within the bill. Students would be allowed to enroll in summer programming offered in any district, not just their local district. Districts would also be able to use local assessments to make determinations of children with the greatest needs along with benchmark data for summer programming.
The requirement for summer programs to be in-person would also be removed under the bill.
Jennifer Smith, director of government relations for the Michigan Association of School Boards, said Title I funding varies widely by district so the equalization is an important tool to provide districts with the funding they deserve.
“It’s nice to see they’re finally taking another step toward the governor’s desk,” Ms. Smith said, adding that if the Legislature can move quickly on the supplemental her hope would be that they can pass a school aid budget in the coming days.
There is pressure to complete the school aid budget soon because school district budgets run on a July 1 to June 30 fiscal year.
Ms. Smith said to complete the school aid budget by the end of the month would allow districts to properly prepare for the next school year, adding schools would prefer not waiting until September.
Peter Spadafore, deputy executive director of external relations with the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators, expressed disappointment in the equalization payments being removed. He had not heard a specific reason for the removal of the equalization funding provision from the bill but said MASA members are pressing lawmakers to consider some form of equalization payments.
“We’re happy that it’s finally moving. We’re not happy that it’s been taking this long,” Mr. Spadafore said, noting that some of the federal education funding was passed several months ago by Congress during the previous administration.
Doug Pratt, director of public affairs for the Michigan Education Association, said in a statement the bill does what educator and parents have wanted to see happen for months: the appropriation of billions in needed relief to districts.
He also agreed with other education groups regarding equalization funds.
“We continue to advocate for districts slated to receive less under the federal Title I formula to get equalization to bring them up to a level that helps them better meet the needs of students as we recover from this pandemic,” Mr. Pratt said. “That can still be accomplished through new state revenue available per state fiscal experts, an approach MEA is strongly in favor of.”
Meanwhile, the House passed SB 37 on a 105-4 vote, which included a floor substitute that would see roughly $2.24 billion in federal aid go mostly toward food assistance, emergency rental assistance and local recovery grants. The bill needs final approval from the Senate before it can go to Ms. Whitmer.
Rep. Ryan Berman (R-Commerce Township), Rep. Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers), Rep. Steve Johnson (R-Wayland) and Rep. John Reilly (R-Oakland Township) voted no on the bill.
“The people of Michigan faced some of the toughest COVID restrictions in the nation,” Rep. Thomas Albert (R-Lowell), chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement following the vote. “Many are still struggling. This is another significant step to get families, communities and students the help they need after an extremely difficult year-and-a-half.”
Regarding food assistance, $1.45 billion would go toward federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding to support a 15 percent increase in monthly food assistance benefits through September 30, 2021.
Emergency rental assistance would see $378.3 million in federal funding for the purpose of grants, which would be used to assist renter households at or below 80 percent of area median income. The funds would be used to support the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which provides rental and utility assistance payments, housing stability services and case management to eligible renter households hit by COVID-19.
Another $65.2 million would go toward emergency management, with the money to be used as payment to vendors for emergency and disaster response and mitigation services provided in areas throughout the state.
For local non-entitlement fiscal recovery fund grants, the substitute also provides $322.1 million in federal funding to distribute to local governments pursuant to federally designated allocations. This funding cannot be used for payments or be deposited into any pension fund.
Under this caveat, the money could be used in any of the following ways: to aid households, small businesses and nonprofits; to aid industries such as tourism, travel and hospitality; to provide premium pay for essential workers; to provide government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue relative to revenues collected in the most recent full fiscal year; or to make necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband.
The substitute also calls for $21 million in General Fund to be used for a one-time purchase of tax vouchers issued by the state to Venture Michigan Fund and collateralized to generate investment capital from lenders under the Michigan Early Stage Venture Investment Act of 2003.
GOP’s Voter ID Bill Passes Senate In Fiery Floor Debate
A trio of elections process bills including legislation requiring a photo identification for voters applying for an absentee ballot passed a divided Senate Wednesday after a fierce floor debate.
It is the first move by Senate Republicans to pass sweeping election law changes.
The three bills are the first to be put up for votes out of a massive 39-bill package introduced by the Senate Republicans in March, prompting bitter rebukes from their Democratic counterparts.
Each of the bills – SB 285, SB 303 and SB 304 – passed along party-line 19-16 votes.
Democrats lobbed several allegations at Republicans, calling the bills unnecessary roadblocks and voter suppression as well as being a de facto poll tax and racist. The minority party also said voter ID laws already exist and work, further accusing the GOP of trying to stoke voter fears over unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.
Republicans countered by pointing to a recent Detroit Regional Chamber poll saying 79.7 percent of respondents support requiring an ID to vote.
GOP members also said the changes would fix what they called a significant gap in election law after the passage of a 2018 ballot measure: the removal of a requirement to appear in person when voting absentee for the first time.
Of the three bills, SB 285 drew the most debate among members.
The bill would require an individual who applies for an absentee ballot through the Department of State or their local clerk to verify their identity through one of several options: providing their Michigan driver’s license number, providing their Michigan personal identification card number, providing the last four digits of their Social Security number, showing their valid ID to their local clerk for election purposes or attaching or sending a copy of their ID along with their ballot application in the mail.
Under SB 285, a provisional ballot would be provided to voters who did not verify their identity. Those voters would have six days after an election to provide proof of identity for their ballot to be counted. Local clerks would also be provided with access to the Department of State’s system, which would enable them to confirm a voter’s ID.
About 11,400 out of more than 5.5 million Michigan ballots in November 2020 were cast by voters signing affidavits rather than showing ID.
The proposed changes in SB 303 would require giving a voter a provisional ballot if they do not have identification when voting in person. SB 304 would require that provisional ballots contain a notice that they will only be tabulated if a voter verifies his or her identity with the proper local clerk within six days after an election.
Sen. Lana Theis (R-Brighton), sponsor of SB 285, said removing the requirement to appear in person when voting absentee for the first time was a glaring oversight in the 2018 election law changes needing to be addressed. She said it was in line with requirements for purchasing alcohol, cold medicines and other items.
Ms. Theis rejected claims made by Democrats that her bill would put people’s personal information at risk.
“Requiring identification verification is a simple but critical step to ensure the integrity of our election process moving forward,” Ms. Theis said. “It’s not creating a personal security risk, it’s not voter suppression, it’s not an undue burden. As a matter of fact, across the globe, ID is required to vote.”
Several Democrats rose to denounce Republicans with accusations of trying to deny people the right to vote, of racism and of trying to solve a problem they said does not exist.
Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich (D-Flint) was surprised by what he called a move he never believed he would see: Republicans using elections to force residents to get a government ID.
“What’s next? Showing a Social Security card? A national ID card? Their blood type? A semen sample? God only knows what you guys will come up with next,” Mr. Ananich said.
Sen. Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit) delivered a blistering rebuke of SB 285, calling the current debate one that Black people had in the 1960s. She called the bill package egregious and garbage.
“This bill package is not about voter integrity, it is not about preventing fraud, it is not about ensuring the security of our election, and this is not about preventing foreign interference,” Ms. Santana said. “This is about being scared of losing an election because of what Brother Malcolm said: ‘We are not outnumbered, we are out-organized.’ Well, that is the election that scares you, because Democrats, with the strong support of Black votes, out-organized you and got out that fool out of the White House and you are still mad about it.”
Ms. Santana then unloaded on Republicans over what she called a vast difference between rhetoric and their policy actions.
“For an entire year, all we heard was Republicans throughout this state is freedom and liberty, patriotism, the 2nd Amendment, American flag and bald eagles – and yet here we are watching this so-called patriotism and defenders of freedom disenfranchise American voters,” Ms. Santana said. “Take that yellow flag off your walls because this is not freedom. This is a legislative terrorism from tyrants with a misguided understanding of the Constitution and the spirit of 1776.”
Sen. Erika Geiss (D-Taylor) stood to call the proposal a “de facto poll tax” before outlining a lengthy history of poll taxes and other efforts to deny the vote to people of color. She said the various options for proving ID in SB 285 are unconstitutional because there are costs for making a copy of their ID for inclusion in the application.
“In a nutshell, creating an additional financial requirement of voters, even an optional one, in order to cast one’s ballot, is essentially a poll tax and would be an unconstitutional resurrection of Jim Crow, who should remain dead and buried,” Ms. Geiss said.
Sen. Paul Wojno (D-Warren), a former local clerk, was dismayed by the Republican elections package. He said he had deep concerns about how the full Republican package could hurt groups of voters, specifically seniors, people of color and the disabled.
“I’ve never seen such an attempt by people to throw up roadblocks for people who are trying to vote,” Mr. Wojno said. “This legislation shows a lack of respect to the many people that have worked so hard to create a more transparent elective process.”
Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) said in speaking with local clerks around her district she was told that senior citizens would be most affected by the proposed changes to the voter ID law.
“What this bill would do is tell those seniors, tell the homeless, tell the vulnerable who do not have an ID that you are not allowed to vote, that you do not have the same right that the rest of us do to vote in every single one of our elections,” Ms. McMorrow said.
Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr. (D-East Lansing) said after months of hearings, there has been no evidence of voter fraud in the state. He said the state already has a voter ID law that works. Mr. Hertel accused Republicans of adding fuel to their supporters’ belief in unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.
“But you are stoking the deepest fears about our fundamental democracy and pushing the big lie that has divided the nation to the point of insurrection, and your only response is to double down,” Mr. Hertel said. “The right likes to talk about liberal snowflakes and participation trophies, but I can’t think of a better example of fragility than trying to change the rules of an election because you don’t like the outcome. Maybe if you could win on your own merit, maybe if you can’t win on that merit, maybe you deserve to lose.”
Sen. Ruth Johnson (R-Holly), the former secretary of state, defended the bills.
“These bills would help ensure the security and fairness of our elections,” Ms. Johnson said. “Requiring voters to verify their identity with ID is the best way to protect the one person, one vote standard.”
She then pointed to the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce poll which showed 79.7 percent of respondents supporting voter ID.
As to arguments about protecting a voter’s personal information, Ms. Johnson said SB 285 mirrors federal election law for providing personal identification information for voting by mail.
She added that individuals need an ID to set up a bank account, purchase alcohol, fly and even get a fishing license online.
Mr. Ananich pushed back on the assertion of needing an ID for numerous other things.
“When I get a fishing license and I show my ID, when I cast my reel, I don’t show my ID again to the fish,” Mr. Ananich said, drawing laughter from members of his caucus. “When I get married and I get my marriage certificate, when I come home from work I don’t say: ‘Hey, I’m still married to you, let me show you my ID.’ That’s what these bills would do. You want to have hoop after hoop after barrier after barrier because you no longer have ideas that people like.”
Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan) said the 2018 ballot proposal removed the requirement to appear in person when voting absentee for the first time and so the opportunity to show ID.
“We don’t allow that to happen for any of our other forms of ID,” Mr. McBroom said. “You don’t get to get your driver’s license at 16 years old and go the rest of your life without ever checking back in. It’s an ongoing process.”
He also shot back at Democrats over claims that the Republicans were being sore losers over the 2020 elections and trying to move the goalposts.
“Both parties are very guilty of being sore losers. There’s no monopoly on sore loser-ship around this place and there’s no monopoly on either party wanting to work election policy to its own ends,” Mr. McBroom said. “Don’t pretend that the Democratic Party wasn’t real happy with those proposals two and three or see them as a great boon to their future opportunities.”
Several organizations reacted swiftly following the votes with statements.
Michigan Freedom Fund Executive Director Tori Sachs applauded Republicans for their votes in favor of the bills, calling them common sense changes to enhance the election process.
“These simple, pragmatic reforms will strengthen confidence in the security of our elections and make it easier for Michiganders to participate in everyday life,” Ms. Sachs said. “Over 70 percent of Americans support voter ID laws and the additional legislation introduced today will ensure everyone has access to photo identification.”
Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes accused Republicans across the country of trying to erect significant barriers to keep Democratic constituencies such as Black people from the polls.
“Today’s actions in the state Senate were deplorable, racist, and quite frankly shameful,” Ms. Barnes said. “Michigan’s 2020 elections were safe and secure. But that has not stopped the Republicans from launching an all-out attack on our right to vote. Their goal is simple and transparent – the GOP wants fewer people to vote. Because they know what we know – when people vote, Democrats win.”
Several groups also came out against the package following session.
Progress Michigan Executive Director Lonnie Scott said lawmakers should be working to build on the 2018 election law changes to further improve ballot access rather than go the route being pushed by legislative Republicans.
“Republican senators are taking aim at the voting options Michiganders have successfully used for decades in an effort to suppress to voices of marginalized peoples,” Mr. Scott said. “Their continued attacks on the freedom to vote are abhorrent and Michiganders must come together once again, across race, income level, and zip code, to stand up for our rights and oppose these anti-voter bills.”
Christina Schlitt, president of the League of Women Voters of Michigan, made a similar remark.
“These anti-voter bills will lead to voter disenfranchisement and make it more difficult for voters to exercise their rights,” she said. “Michigan has voter ID laws on the books, and our system for affidavit options has worked for decades. These new restrictions are unnecessary.”
Clare Allenson with the Michigan League of Conservation Voters characterized Wednesday’s Senate vote as “yet another example of how some lawmakers in Lansing are laser focused on making it harder for Michiganders to exercise their freedom to vote.”
SENATE ELECTIONS REPORTS MORE GOP BILLS: Four election process bills were reported Wednesday afternoon by the Senate Elections Committee following session, three of which were part of the 39-bill Senate Republican package.
An S-2 substitute to SB 277 was adopted that would allow for county clerks to remove dead voters from the Qualified Voter File.
County clerks would have to update the Qualified Voter File at least once a month, no later than the second business day of each month, to remove voter registration records for those who had died in the county. City and township clerks would be required to compare their lists to the county clerks’ and cancel the voter registrations of all dead voters.
The Department of State would have to post information on total flagged registration records on its website, broken down by county, city and township. The department would then have to send notifications to local clerks regarding each canceled voter registration in their jurisdiction.
Committee members voted 4-0 to report SB 277.
Under SB 302, voter registration applications would include a statement that the voter does not claim voting residence or the right to vote in another state or territory. An S-1 substitute would include language noting it is a felony to vote more than once or to attempt to vote more than once in an election in the same or in another precinct.
The bill was reported 3-0 with Sen. Paul Wojno (D-Warren) abstaining.
The committee also adopted an S-1 substitute to and reported SB 311, which would allow for the electronic return of absentee ballots by military voters using U.S. Department of Defense Common Access Cards. A companion bill, SB 8, also was reporting the adoption of an S-1 substitute. The substitutes removed some duplicative language from SB 311 and changed the tie-bars for the bills.
Both bills were reported by votes of 3-0 with Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan) abstaining.
Redistricting Commissioners Call Public Hearings Thus Far A Success
With just five more public hearings to go, members of the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission Wednesday said they believe their statewide public outreach campaign has been a success, but there might be some lingering gaps in identifying a few key communities of interest.
The commission in early May began a listening tour in locations across Michigan as a way to gauge input from residents, businesses and organizations on their individual communities of interest – a metric that is high on the priority list for the commission when considers how it will redraw the state’s legislative and congressional maps within the next few months.
A total of 16 such meetings were scheduled, with the commission completing 11 of them as of Tuesday night in Detroit. A second Detroit public hearing is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday at the downtown TCF Center.
As the slate of public hearings winds down, commission vice chair Rebecca Szetela – alongside commissioners MC Rothhorn and Doug Clark – participated in a press conference Wednesday to discuss how the process has been going, what they’ve learned thus far and what’s next for the commission as it wraps up public hearings.
Ms. Szetela said that overall, the meetings have been a great success, to which Mr. Rothhorn agreed. He added that he has been encouraged that the commission – and particularly in Detroit – has been greeted with strong questions, valuable feedback and gratitude for the work they’ve been doing.
In terms of what they’ve learned, Mr. Clark said that it has been a mixed bag but that a few pieces of feedback stood out.
“The Jackson and Kalamazoo area focused a lot on the rural/urban split relative to districts. You go up to Marquette and they were more concerned with keeping the counties and cities together, basically because they probably were all there,” Mr. Clark said. “And then in Midland, they were focused more on the manufacturing in Midland and Bay City and Saginaw staying in the same district. So, we get a little different approach each place we go, and I think that’s very helpful for us.”
That said, Ms. Szetela has noted at least one gap in community input: feedback from Indigenous residents.
“I was on a call on Monday, where the issue of First Nations and Native American people was raised. That as a group, we’re not having a lot of participation from (them). We have received at least one comment, that I’m aware of, from someone from one of the reservations in terms of their community,” Ms. Szetela said. “So, there was some concern expressed about that particular community not providing comments. And there were community leaders who were working on sort of engaging that population to try to give us the information that we’re going to need in terms of where that community of interest is and where they’re located.”
Mr. Clark also noted that there remains some concern about residents living in northern Lower Peninsula who don’t know enough about the commission’s work or how to give public comment.
Also on the call was Susan Smith, vice president of League of Women Voters Michigan, who said she knew of several groups the League has been working with that have yet to give public comment and was urging them to do so.
In the same vein, ICRC Executive Director Suann Hammersmith said she has not seen gaps in the strata of communities that have given public comment thus far, but certainly wanted more communities to attend the few meetings they have left to do so.
Edward Woods III, the commission’s communications and outreach director, also told reporters that there is a big push to collect input from members of the disability community – particularly in Macomb and Oakland counties – which has involved coaching them on how to give comment and collecting those comments once they’re ready to give input.
Mr. Woods said they should have access to that feedback from the disability community within the next few weeks.
As to whether the commission feels like it would be able to meet its stated goal of fielding a high number of unique comments during the public hearing phase, Mr. Woods reiterated that the commission would continue to take public comment and consider them well after its final hearing in Grand Rapids on July 1.
In fact, the commission would continue to take public comment up until the date it begins to draw maps, he said.
Map drawing will require more than the narrative feedback the commission has gained over the last few months, as delayed U.S. Census data will be the key driver in deciding where to draw the lines. The commission is expected to receive that data in September and has asked for a deadline extension currently pending before the Michigan Supreme Court (see separate story).
As the commission awaits the census data and the high court’s ruling, Ms. Hammersmith said that the body will press forward working with what it has.
Full commission discussions on the communities of interest piece and what stood out at the public hearings will begin as soon as Thursday’s meeting before it begins to take public comment, Ms. Hammersmith said – indicating that the work to identify those communities will be well underway before the body ends its public hearing tour.
“Yes, there will be some reflections about what the commissioners have learned along the way, but everything is being put in place so when the public hearings are over, the commissioners can really begin their work in earnest, thinking about the data sets for mapping, all the data that will go into the maps that they will create and the work that is ahead of them,” Ms. Hammersmith said.
Mr. Clark noted that they have been in direct and frequent contact with their vendors, including the commission’s map drawing consultant Election Data Services, which has given a presentation on the path forward and will continue to do so over the next few sessions.
EDS is also working with a commission subcommittee to develop a business process regarding how they will navigate the final steps, he added.
A meeting with all the vendors the commission has hired to discuss those next steps is scheduled for July 8.
May Unemployment Ticks Up To 5% Amid Modest Workforce Gain
Michigan’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate for May hit 5 percent, up 0.1 percentage point from the month prior, according to data from the Department of Technology, Management and Budget released Wednesday.
Michigan employment levels increased a minimal amount – by 6,000 – while the number of unemployed individuals edged up by 3,000, resulting in a workforce gain of 9,000 in May.
“Michigan’s labor market remained stable during May,” Wayne Rourke, associate director of the Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives, said in a statement. “The unemployment rate and payroll job counts both showed little change over the month.”
The United States’ jobless rate decreased by 0.3 percentage point between April and May to 5.8 percent – 0.8 percentage point above the Michigan rate. Over the year, the U.S. rate dropped by 7.5 percentage points, while Michigan’s rate moved down significantly by 15.8 percentage points. It was a year ago when unemployment was at its pandemic peak amid a wide-ranging shutdown order.
These annual rate reductions reflected the return to work of persons since the very high pandemic-related layoffs in May 2020.
Regarding trends for the month, Michigan’s May workforce level changed very little, edging up just 0.2 percent which was comparable to the national trend. Employment in the state advanced for the third consecutive month, moving up by 24,000 since February. Further, after four consecutive months of unemployment reductions, the statewide unemployment level increased in May by 1.3 percent.
Michigan’s overall employment, however, remains well below pre-pandemic levels with its total employment in May being 268,000 – 5.6 percent below February 2020 levels. The statewide jobless rate of 5 percent is also 1.3 percentage points higher than the jobless rate from February 2020.
In the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), the seasonally adjusted rate also climbed up very marginally to 4.4 percent but has largely remained stable for the last four months. Over the last year, the Detroit MSA’s unemployment rate has plunged nearly 20 percentage points as workers returned to their jobs following the high level of pandemic-related layoffs in May 2020.
As for payroll levels, a monthly survey of employers noted that total nonfarm jobs remained virtually unchanged between April and May, edging down by 0.1 percent. The total amount of payroll jobs during May was 4.1 million, with minor job changes being observed in all major industry sectors during May.
On a percentage basis, the largest over-the-month job gain occurred in the state’s transportation equipment manufacturing sector, with employment advancing by 3.7 percent due to some worker recalls from short-term layoffs in the auto industry.
Broad industry sectors with the largest percent job gains over the year include leisure and hospitality – up by 59.8 percent – and manufacturing, which increased by 29.1 percent. Both, however, still are trending well below pre-pandemic levels.