Unemployment rates are falling and area businesses are looking to fill their staffs as seasonal jobs open up — a paper posted in El Azteco Restaurant's main window advertises the business' need for help.

Inside, East Lansing resident Teri Brown filled plastic cups with salsa while at the restaurant Wednesday afternoon.

The 22-year-old is finishing her first month at El Azteco, 225 Ann St., and after being unemployed for more than three months, she's happy to be making some money.

Brown said she applied at 15 businesses before finding a job at the Ann Street restaurant.

"Unemployment sucks," she said. "I was even trying to sell CDs to get some part of the rent paid."

Michigan's April unemployment rates were down in all the state's major labor markets, according to state officials, allowing people like Brown easier access to employment.

Although Michigan still has a higher unemployment rate than the nation's average of 4.7 percent, the statewide rate of 7.2 percent fell by 0.7 percent, said Bruce Weaver, economic analyst for the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth.

MSU graduate student Christian Garcia traveled to Grand Rapids last summer just to make ends meet, he said. It took him all summer, but he found a job with a law firm in Lansing.

"There are some jobs out there, not a lot, but they're pretty mediocre, like washing dishes," he said.

The Lansing and East Lansing areas' unemployment rate also fell from 6.3 percent to 5.9 percent.

But Weaver said the unemployment rate normally drops in April because of high unemployment rates after winter holiday jobs end and seasonal summer hiring begins.

"The first quarter is the highest seasonal unemployment, but every year, this is typical in April in terms of the drops in the unemployment," he said.

Economics Professor Jeff Biddle said a lower unemployment rate may help businesses because they can rely more on consumer spending, but there are some drawbacks.

"It sometimes puts upward pressure on wages, and pressure on businesses to keep employing people," he said.

El Azteco manager Heather Holguin said the restaurant's crew doubles for the summer months.

"We're constantly hiring to get fully staffed because the upstairs dining is open," she said. "Every year, it's the same mass hiring. If you have experience, we'll put you some place."

Holguin said the turnover rate has been especially high at the East Lansing branch.

"I don't know if it's the unemployment rate, or if we just can't get people to wait tables and cook," she said. "They come in, and they realize that they actually have to work."

El Azteco continues to hire throughout the summer until the end of football season, Holguin said. But as the temperature drops, so do the new employees' hours.

"People's hours go down to about ten; they get a couple of shifts," she said. "It's almost like they're getting laid off."

The restaurant's hiring trend is common throughout the state, but the Lansing area's 0.4 percent unemployment decrease lags behind northern areas of the state, where employment is heavily influenced by season.

Holguin, who has worked at both the Lansing and East Lansing branches of the restaurant, said being in a college town also adds to the high turnover rate at El Azteco.

"The turnover rate is much smaller (in Lansing)," she said. "The same people have been around for probably an average of five years."

State News reporter Justin Kroll contributed to this report.

Laura Misjak can be reached at misjakla@msu.edu.