News File Photo An Alpena Power Co. worker hangs a new line after a power line fell near the intersection of M-32 and Bagley Street in Alpena in this October 2022 News archive photo.

ALPENA — Northeast Michigan’s labor picture continued to improve last year.

The region’s annualized unemployment rate stood at 6.2% in 2022, according to the most recent data available from the Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget.

That’s improved from the 6.7% recorded in 2021 and vastly better than the 9.4% recorded in 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

The region’s labor picture has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, however. The annualized unemployment rate in 2019 was 5.8%.

Check out the interactive graphic below. Story continues below graphic.

Northeast Michigan’s unemployment picture remained worse than elsewhere in Michigan, however. The 2022 statewide unemployment rate was just 4.2%, down from 5.8% in 2021 and 9.9% in 2020.

In 2022, Northeast Michigan added a net 311 people to the labor force, a measure of people either working or looking for work.

Ninety-two fewer people than in 2021 looked for work but couldn’t find it.

Alpena County’s 2022 unemployment rate stood at 5%. Presque Isle County recorded 7.7% unemployment last year. Montmorency County recorded a 7.2% rate last year. And Alcona County recorded a 7% 2022 unemployment rate.

Those rates are not seasonally adjusted.

Employers across several industries told The News recently they’ve struggled to find workers. Positions have gone unfilled for a variety of reasons, employers said: Some would-be employees can’t pass drug tests, for example, while others expect a higher rate of pay than small local businesses can provide.