"Good News" For Oakland County Economy
TROY (WWJ) - The economic outlook for Oakland County appears bright.
"You can tell by the smile on my face we've got good news today. I read the report over and over again," Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson told reporters.
The annual economic forecast for Oakland County was presented, Thursday, by University of Michigan economist George Fulton.
"Our read of the data is that Oakland is in the early stages of a sustained recovery... What a difference a year makes," said Fulton, with U-M's Institute for Research on Labor, Employment and the Economy.
"Oakland's made an impressive rebound since 2009, which was the worst economic year, as you know, in the modern history of the county," he said.
Fulton said the turnaround is amazing -- from a job loss of 60,000 in '09, to an estimated job growth of 29,000 over the next three years. Eleven thousand of those jobs are expected to by added this year.
Fulton said this will be led by auto and manufacturing -- also health care and temporary services.
However, the report shows the housing market remains sluggish and concerns remain over oil prices and the situation in Japan.
