Economic outlook for state depends on where you are

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By ASHLEY WEIGEL
Capital News Service
LANSING — Michigan’s economy is on the rise, according to a recent survey.
In many areas of the state more people are reporting they are in excellent or good economic shape. The exceptions are the Upper Peninsula, rural areas and Detroit.
The latest State of the State survey out of Michigan State University indicates that many Michigan residents are doing better financially than they were a year ago. And they expect to be doing better still this time next year.
An average of 54 percent of residents think they are in “excellent” or “good” financial position this year. This percentage has steadily increased after the numbers bottomed out in late 2009 and early 2010, said Charles Ballard, director of the survey and professor of economics at MSU.

The percentage is increasing due to the overall general improvement of the economy, Ballard said. The state has been seeing “slow, but reasonably steady growth” since the economic recession in 2008 and 2009.
Lansing Metro area, including Clinton, Eaton and Ingham counties, and suburban southeast Michigan are among the areas with higher than average numbers of residents in good financial standing.
While overall the state seems to be improving, not every area is enjoying this increase in financial stability.
The Upper Peninsula, rural areas of the Lower Peninsula and Detroit are among places that did not have numbers higher than the state average, Ballard said.
Of Detroit residents surveyed, only 23 percent felt they had “excellent” or “good” financial situations.
The Upper Peninsula has not seen as much growth as the Lower Peninsula. Mackinac County’s unemployment rate is 22.9 percent, the highest in the state.
But that doesn’t mean that the Upper Peninsula has not seen any growth.
“We don’t see big steps in growth, but it’s steady,” said Amy Clickner, CEO of the Lake Superior Community Partnership in Marquette. Because the UP is so large and has many rural areas, the growth is slower.
More urban areas of the peninsula, such as Marquette County, have shown a lot of gradual growth in the last eight years, she said. In Marquette, the downtown area has added businesses and now holds the headquarters for Range Bank, Clickner said. And the mining industry is on the rise.
More new businesses than ever are joining the Lake Superior Community Partnership, a coalition of groups that promote the local economy.
“I feel very good about 2014,” Clickner said.
The western Upper Peninsula counties are not doing as well, with counties still in double-digit unemployment numbers. With the state average of unemployment at 7.7 percent, Baraga County and Ontonagon County have almost double those numbers, at 13.7 percent and 12.4 percent respectively, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The survey is conducted three or four times a year.

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