The Department of Labor has said that signs of an economic recovery in Michigan are muted but tangible with unemployment down from its recessionary peak.

The Detroit News reported on Monday that Michigan is now the state with the second highest rate of unemployment, behind Nevada, after adding 29,000 jobs in May with unemployment down by 19,000.

The unemployment rate in Michigan, after posting the highest unemployment rate for most of the recession, is now 13.6 percent. Nevada's unemployment rate is 14 percent.

Jay Maurer, a salesman in Sylvan Lake, Mich., said, "It's nothing to write home about" but "it's a little better than last year."

It may be a decade before Michigan's unemployment rated drops to pre-recession levels, Economists has said.

The recession officially began in December 2007.

Although some business sectors are showing signs of improvement, it has not been determined the recession is officially over, a task that falls to the Nation Bureau of Economic Research.

The newspaper further said that unemployment in Michigan peaked at 14.5 percent in December. (With Inputs from Agencies)