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Another 9,000 Michiganders became unemployed in November as the unemployment rate ticked up for the eighth straight month, growing at double the national average.

Overall, employment in Michigan fell by 7,000 jobs last month, while unemployment increased by 9,000, “resulting in a workforce gain of 2,000 since October,” according to the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget.

“Michigan’s unemployment rate increased this month, primarily due to a rise in the number of unemployed people,” Wayne Rourke, labor market information director for the Michigan Center for Data and Analytics, said in a statement. “Payroll jobs went up in November, the third month in row to show positive job additions.”

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State officials in November reported Michigan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate jumped two-tenths of a percentage point from September to come in at 4.7% for October, then later revised that figure to 4.6%.

MDTMB reports Michigan’s unemployment rate has since swelled to 4.8%, jumping another two-tenths of a percentage point as the national unemployment rate increased by 0.1% in November.

“The number of unemployed people in the state increased by 3.8 percent over the month, a gain of 1.5 percentage points larger than the national unemployment total increase (+2.3 percent),” according to the state. “Over the last year, the national jobless rate advanced by half a percentage point, while the statewide rate increased by 0.7 percentage points since November 2023.”

Since November 2023, Michigan’s labor force has lost about 10,000 participants, as the number of unemployed as swelled by 36,000, or 17.3%.

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“As a result, Michigan’s unemployment rate is the highest it has been since November 2021, when the state’s economy was still rebounding from the pandemic,” according to the Detroit Free Press. “In the months leading up to the pandemic, the state’s jobless rate was at about 3.7%.”

The biggest losses in November came from Michigan’s trade, transportation, and utilities industry, which shed 2,000 jobs, and retail, which shed 1,000.

Over the last year, Michigan’s critical manufacturing industry led the losses with 8,000 jobs gone, followed by retail with a 4,000 job loss, and professional and business services, down 1,000.

The data follows announced layoffs in the automotive industry last month, when General Motors cut 1,000 employees, with more than half from its Global Technical Center in Warren. That decision came just three months after GM laid off 1,000 in August, including 600 at the tech center.

It’s a similar deal with Stellantis, which laid off 400 in Detroit in November, after cutting 2,450 jobs at its Warren Truck facility in August.

Ford is contributing to the problem as well with production shifts tied to waning interest in its Bronco SUV.

While the company moved roughly 400 workers off its Bronco assembly line in Warren to its Dearborn Engine Plant and Monroe Parks Depot last month, other companies that rely on the Bronco are issuing layoffs.

In November, “Webasto Roof Systems, which counts the Bronco among its largest programs, notified the state it plans to lay off 218 employees as a result of reduced production by a customer,” Crain’s Detroit Business reports.

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As thousands more Michiganders file into the unemployment line, they’ll reap enhanced benefits from legislation approved by the state’s Democratic legislative majority and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer this month.

On Monday, Whitmer signed into law Senate Bill 40, which will increase the number of weeks Michiganders can receive unemployment insurance from 20 to 26, while boosting the cap on weekly benefits from $326 to $614 over the next three years, The Detroit News reports.

The weekly benefit amount will increase by $84 each of the next three years, beginning in 2025, and will be adjusted annually based on inflation after that. The new law also increases benefit boosters for dependents from $6 to $26.

“This overdue update will bring relief to potentially 88,335 Michiganders, ensuring these individuals have enough money in their pockets to pay the bills and feed their families as they look for new employment,” the governor’s office said in a statement cited by The News.

According to a Senate Fiscal Analysis, based on current trends, the increase in the weekly benefit maximum could add $531.1 million in additional pay outs annually in 2027.

The legislation was strongly opposed by the Small Business Association of Michigan, the Michigan Manufacturers Association, National Federation of Independent Businesses, and most Republicans, who noted the benefits are funded entirely by job creators.

“Dramatically raising the amount and the length of unemployment benefits almost certainly would lead to higher state unemployment taxes for businesses than they would otherwise face,” Sen. Thomas Albert, R-Lowell, said in a statement cited by the Detroit Free Press. “And we should not be adopting policies that further raise costs for job providers when they are already reeling from the same inflationary pressures and other economic factors that all Michiganders have faced for the last few years.”

The increasing unemployment, and boost to benefits, come as Michigan’s economic future remains unclear.

While a recent economic forecast from the University of Michigan suggests it “depends critically on uncertain policy decisions and the subsequent market responses” from an incoming Trump administration that has promised tariffs on Chinese goods, an end to EV tax credits, and personal and corporate tax cuts, there’s already signs things will likely get worse before they get better.

An online jobs ad snapshot from the MDTMB shows total jobs ads in November nosedived by 7.8%, continuing a years-long downward trajectory across all of the state’s 10 “prosperity regions.”

Those ads are now at nearly half the number they were just a few years ago, with 296,220 in November 2021 dwindling to just 160,332 last month.