GRAND RAPIDS ? Two economic forecasts released this week show the Michigan economy is on the rebound.
On Thursday, Comerica chief economist Dana Johnson reported the local economy climbed “impressively” in February in his Michigan Economic Activity Index to a level not seen since October 2008.
While on Tuesday, University of Michigan economist George Fulton revised a forecast given in November to say the state’s hemorrhaging of jobs has significantly slowed and employment will start growing again next year.
Fulton, director of the Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics at the University of Michigan, is optimistic about the private sector, which he said will no longer be eliminating jobs by the last three months of the year.
But “continued declines in government jobs (will) delay until the first quarter of 2011 the turnaround in the overall job count,” he said.
Fulton forecast in November 2009 that the state would lose 85,000 jobs for 2010, but now predicts an overall job loss of 39,300.
Meanwhile the Comerica February economic index rose three points from January to a level of 84 on a scale that peaks at 110, a 13.5 percent gain from February 2009.
“February’s reading was driven by strong steel production and natural gas sales,” Johnson said.
The monthly index produced by Johnson found growth in seven of the nine indicators of economic activity, including manufacturing. Other indicators measured are the construction and service sectors as well as job growth and consumer spending.
Johnson said he expects the state economy to continue to improve for the rest of the year, “reflecting an ongoing recovery in Michigan.”
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