State Rep. Steve Tobocman, D-Detroit, left, talks with House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, during a session at the state Capitol in Lansing during 2007. Tobocman, a lawyer, will guest lecture part-time at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy now that he is out of office. (AP photo)

LANSING (AP) — Glenn Steil Jr. can empathize with the thousands of Michigan residents trying to find a job during one of the worst economic times of the last half-century.

Steil was a state lawmaker until New Year’s Day and now needs a new job himself.

The Republican from Kent County’s Cascade Township is one of 44 members of the Michigan House who left office because of the state’s term limits law. Relatively few of them have found new jobs. The task of finding new gigs will be tougher than usual for this year’s crop of term-limited lawmakers because of Michigan’s highest-in-the-nation unemployment rate, which in November reached 9.6 percent — the highest monthly rate since March 1992.

‘‘I’m looking for something long-term, something solid for my family,’’ said Steil, a 40-year-old father of three. ‘‘But it’s difficult in this economy.’’

A Michigan state lawmaker’s annual base salary is $79,650.