More than 40 percent of Michigan's unemployed haven't worked in six months or longer, according to a new report by the Michigan League for Human Services (MLHS). That's the statistic from 2009, as reported in "Labor Day Report: Long-Term Unemployment is at Crisis Level." Nearly 273,000 workers each month in 2009 were out of work for more than six months. That's up from just 6.5 percent in 2000. 

Michigan's official unemployment rate was 13.6 percent in 2009, rising to 13.9 percent in the first half of this year, the highest levels since 1983. In addition to the long-term unemployed, the report looks at factors not reflected in the official rate, including racial disparities and underemployment. 

Michigan's rate of underemployment is far higher than the official unemployment rate, according to the report. At 21.5 percent, it reflects a much larger share of the state population experiencing economic hardship. 

Underemployment counts the unemployed, those working part-time because they are unable to find full-time work, those unable to work because of barriers such as lack of child care or transportation and discouraged workers who are unemployed but have given up looking for work. 

The long-term unemployment problem is reflected in other economic trends. Foreclosures are up -- more than 37,000 homes were foreclosed in Michigan during the third quarter of 2009 alone -- as well as the number of families receiving cash and food assistance.