The news that Michigan's unemployment rate dropped again for the month of December was good news for Governor Snyder's State of the State address, but this rate drop is accompanied by a continued drop in Michigan's overall labor force.
The labor force is the overall number of employed people plus unemployed people.
People are categorized as "unemployed" if they are out of work AND they have been looking for a job in the last 28 days.
As my chart shows above, the labor force in Michigan has been dropping consistently since 2006.
Comparing January 2006 to December 2011, there are around 432,000 fewer people in Michigan either working or looking for work.