Michigan’s jobless rate ticked up to 4.5% in August, the third month in a row the state unemployment rate has registered a slight increase.

Non-farm payroll jobs dropped by roughly 2,000 in August — a small number compared to a total job count of 4,488,000. Payroll jobs declined by 19,000 over the past three months.

Michigan Bureau of Labor Information Director Wayne Rourke said the state’s job market appears to be settling into more normal patterns after steep losses during the COVID-19 pandemic followed by big job gains and a strong recovery.                

”Everything we’re seeing is pretty incremental,” he told the Michigan Public Radio Network. “There’s not any massive movement in any particular industry that would tell a big story, but we are seeing a general softening in the last few months.”                

Rourke also said a look at the year-to-year data shows the overall state and national job trends are similar even though the U.S. as a whole showed a small boost last month.

“Over the year, Michigan’s unemployment rate is up half a percentage point while the U.S. is up four-tenths of a percentage point,” he said. “So, the trends are really similar and what we’re seeing here is what’s happening nationwide as well.”