I have lived in Michigan my whole life, and I agree with your assessment.  Like I mentioned in another thread earlier today, I consider myself fortunate. After being unemployed for the last 6 months, I just got hired by a security company and start training Monday.  It is a lower paying service job, but who cares, it is a paycheck.  Those $8-10/hour service jobs, which used to be considered a joke and had high turn-around, are the only jobs left, and even those that have these jobs are hanging onto them for dear life.  There are probably 100 people scratching and clawing for each open position in this type of job now. I live in the Flint area. There are people around here who would kill just for a job flippin' burgers at McDonalds or working at the gas station. It seems as though half of the houses I see have a for sale sign in the front yard. People are fleeing this state as if it were a third world country. Yes, it is very bad here in Michigan, and those official unemployment statistics aren't telling the full story. I am half-expecting an angry lynch mob to descend upon Lansing any day now.:D