• Michigan Capital Area Works!

UPDATE: LANSING - The March jobs report delivered disappointing numbers this past month. Experts predicted an addition of 190 thousand jobs. But only 88 thousand were added.

"People really had high hopes that the number would be well above 100,000 nationally," said Alex Rosean, director of public policy and economic analysis at Anderson Economic Group. "That 88,000 just barely keeps up with just how the population increased nationally."

Nearly 500 thousand people also left the work force. Causing the unemployment rate to drop from 7.7 percent and 7.6 percent.

"While employment has been going up, there have been people leaving the workforce steadily for the last few years," Rosean said.

Some people leave to retire, others have their benefits run out and no longer look for work.

"We're in this weird situation where the private employment is rising decently and public employment is falling at the same time," Rosean said.

But there is hope for the unemployed in the Lansing area.

"We are always looking at the labor market, looking at trends," said Edythe Hawatter-Williams, president of Capital Area Michigan Works.

The organization says that the economy is on an upward swing.

"We'll we're seeing the automotive industry pick back up, so there are jobs posted there," Hawatter-Williams said.

The change of weather will also help the labor force in Lansing.

"So we're encouraging people that may have been discouraged in the past because they haven't been able to find anything to go back out now and start looking," Hawatter-Williams said.

ORIGINAL STORY: LANSING - Watch Meridian Magazine to learn about how the March jobs report affect Mid-Michigan.