By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


An update on the state’s unemployment system will be offered during a tele-town hall event next week.

Republican State Senator Lana Theis of Brighton Township will host the tele-town hall on Tuesday, April 21st from 5:30 to 7pm to answer questions from constituents about filing for unemployment benefits in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. The event will feature Theis and Unemployment Insurance Agency Legislative Liaison Stephanie Glidden. Interested participants are encouraged to RSVP online to Theis’ website. The call-in number is 855-756-7520, extension #59550.

Despite the nation’s third-highest unemployment reserve in the nation, about $4.6 billion at the end of 2019, Michigan’s Unemployment Trust Fund is on track to be drained within two months and incur as much as a $15 billion deficit. That’s according to Christopher O’Leary, a senior economist specializing in labor markets at the Upjohn Institute in Kalamazoo, who was quoted by The Bridge magazine.

An additional 219,000 people in Michigan filed for unemployment last week, bringing the total number who have lost their jobs in the coronavirus pandemic to more than 1 million. That's a staggering quarter of the state’s workforce.