IRON MOUNTAIN — Delta County’s unemployment rate in October was 4.9%, above the Upper Peninsula rate of 4.6% and the Michigan rate of 4.7%, according to data released by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget.

“Jobless rates declined in all major Michigan labor markets in October, although labor force levels were generally down over the month,” said Wayne Rourke, associate director of the Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives. Also, most of the state’s rate declines resulted from a revision of September rates.

The federal government identified a distortion in its statistical model and revised Michigan’s September unemployment rate upward by 1.7 percentage points to 5.5%, Rourke explained. Rates for individual counties were also revised.

The problem stems from inputs into a model for the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn metropolitan area for January, which produced “some distortions” in benchmarking factors used for Michigan, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Revisions to unemployment data are not unusual, but one of this magnitude is, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. government will increase the state’s monthly jobless rates for January through August at the end of the year and release them in March.

October 2021 regional jobless rates remained above pre-pandemic October 2019 levels, but over the year all 17 Michigan regions displayed jobless rate reductions, Rourke said.

The U.P.’s October jobless rate of 4.6% compared to a revised September rate of 5.1% (previously 4%) and an October 2020 rate of 5%. The region’s labor force is down by 900 over the year, a drop of 0.7%.

Mackinac County had the lowest jobless rate in the U.P. in October at 3.2%, followed by Menominee County at 3.9%. The highest jobless rate in the U.P. was in Baraga County, at 6.7%.

October 2021 unemployment:

COUNTY RATE

Mackinac- 3.2%

Menominee – 3.9%

Houghton – 4.0%

Dickinson – 4.1%

Marquette – 4.4%

Gogebic – 4.5%

Iron – 4.5%

Keweenaw- 4.7%

Delta – 4.9%

Chippewa – 5.2%

Luce – 5.3%

Ontonagon – 6.0%

Schoolcraft – 6.0%

Alger – 6.5%

Baraga – 6.7%

U.P. – 4.6%

Michigan – 4.7%