Michigan’s population has fallen below 10 million for the first time since the year 2000. That’s according to a new estimate released today by the U-S Census Bureau.
Xuan Liu is with the data center at the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments. He says the state didn’t lose as many people this year as it did last year.
LIU: We lost fewer people this year mostly because of the dramatically worsening economy in the rest of the nation. It’s not because any improvement of our economy in Michigan, it’s because there are fewer opportunities in the rest of the nation.
Liu says Michigan lost about 33,000 residents in 2009. That means more than 500,000 people - and about twenty percent of the state’s jobs - have left Michigan since 2001.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics put Michigan’s unemployment rate at 14.7 percent. That’s the highest in the country.