Author name: The Midwesterner Staff

If nothing else, Michigan can claim it’s not the worst state in the republic. A new analysis of the state’s unemployment situation ranked Michigan among the states with the worst changes in their unemployment rates. According to a new review from the personal finance site WalletHub, the Wolverine State ranked No. 48, ahead of only Kentucky, Nevada and South Carolina. Nationally, South Dakota, Connecticut, and New Hampshire are ranked as the states with the best unemployment rate changes.

WalletHub compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia to understand how unemployment rates are changing nationwide. It used six key metrics and compared unemployment rate statistics from December 2024, the latest available data, to key dates in 2019, 2020, 2023 and 2024. “Michigan’s No. 48 ranking in unemployment indicates some ongoing struggles in the state’s job market,” WalletHub writer and analyst Chip Lupo told The Midwesterner via email.

“While the unemployment rate of 5.0% isn’t the highest, it reflects a 3.2% increase from November 2024 and a 21.6% rise compared to December 2023,” Lupo added. “These numbers point to persistent challenges in Michigan’s economy, suggesting that the state is still dealing with significant employment issues despite overall economic growth. Factors like inflation and shifts in the job market likely play a role in this trend.” Michigan’s jobless numbers are among the worst in the country, and state labor officials conceded that after three consecutive years of jobless rate declines, the state’s annual average unemployment rate rose during 2024.

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A pro-teacher, pro-union lawmaker wants to raise the state’s 6% corporate income tax to 10% to spend billions more on public schools while slashing corporate subsidies. The proposal, which would raise the tax by 66%, aims to use the additional corporate income tax revenue to make “historic investments” in public schools. According to the bill’s author, Democrat Rep. Dylan Wegela, the extra money could give teachers an estimated $20,000-a-year raise.

Wegela’s plan would raise the corporate income tax to 10% while also doing away with “corporate handouts through the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund (SOAR) fund.” The legislation earmarks the first $1.2 billion of corporate tax revenue to the General Fund. The next $50 million would still go to the Housing Fund. Everything else would go to the School Aid Fund. Wegela wants to eliminate $500 million for SOAR and direct more than $2.4 billion to the School Aid Fund.

The proposal amounts to a 67% increase in the CIT, according to Michigan Chamber of Commerce spokesperson Sara Wurfel as reported by MIRS. Meanwhile, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a $23 billion budget bill into law this summer.

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Proposed legislation sponsored by Democratic House legislators seeks to remove the competence examination requirement to become a licensed social worker. If passed, Michigan House Bills 5184 and 5185 would amend the Public Health Code to eliminate the exam requirement for social workers at all license levels. Both bills were passed Thursday by the House Subcommittee on Behavioral Health.

Opponents say such a drastic change would place Michigan outside the standards observed by nearly every other state in the nation. Michigan officially passed the social work licensing law in 2004, becoming the 50th, and final, state to create a path to licensure. “Sacrificing standards and quality to increase quantity is not what vulnerable individuals in Michigan need or deserve,” according to the authors of Protect Public Health and Safety in Michigan: Reject The Social Work Licensure Modernization Act. “These ‘problematic barriers’ are safeguards and controls to decrease the likelihood of doing harm or re-traumatizing individuals, and to promote public health and safety.”

In order to become fully licensed, individuals with a degree in social work from an accredited university must take and pass a social work licensure exam. In Michigan, the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs oversees the licensure and regulation of social workers. A critical part of the licensure process is the requirement to pass an objective, standardized exam. “Like other licensed professionals — doctors, nurses, lawyers, teachers or barbers — social workers must demonstrate knowledge and skills to ensure they can deliver quality services. Anything less puts the health and well-being of individuals, families and communities at risk.”

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