Current Unemployment Rates

The current economic crisis has greatly affected those who have jobs and those who don't. Studies show that the economic crisis relating to its other key factors are making the unemployment rates increase. Many banks and financial institutions are in need of bailouts from the government. Due to this financial and economic crisis many banks aren't giving loans out to smaller businesses causing them to start laying off people, or taking away jobs from people with a notice. An example of a huge financial bail out is AIG. AIG has had billions of dollars in government loans to make sure that they don't fail. According to the Wall Street Journal many large insurance companies are also in need of these large sums of money to rescue them.

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, in February 2009 the unemployment rate in the United States was 8.1%. This figure is up 3.3% from just one year ago.  Michigan is one of the states hardest hit by the economic crisis, due to the failing automotive industry. Michigan's unemployment rate is 11.6% which is 3.5% above the national average.