Led by an automotive resurgence, Michigan's economy grew at a top-10 pace during 2011 but remains smaller than before the Great Recession.
Michigan's economy grew 2.3% during 2011, a pace that ranked as the sixth best in percentage terms among the 50 states. It was by far the most rapid expansion among Great Lakes states. The next-best expansion in the Great Lakes was posted by Illinois, which saw its economy grow by 1.3% last year.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, an arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce, released the rankings and growth rates Tuesday.
BEA reported that growth of inflation-adjusted gross domestic product -- the total output of goods and services -- increased in all regions of the country, although at a slower pace than during 2010's expansion.
Michigan's total output of cars, tourism, computer software, and all other goods and services totaled $337.4 billion in 2011, BEA estimated. The state's economy has been growing at a healthy pace since 2010, but the total output remains below the $345-billion level posted in 2008.
Perhaps more troubling, Michigan's economy continues to fall behind those of faster-growing states. In 2000, Michigan's economy ranked as the nation's ninth largest among the 50 states. In 2011, Michigan ranked 13th.
But in the short run, at least, Michigan is rebounding more robustly than almost all other states. The BEA report even noted that its year-earlier report covering 2010 had been revised upward to show 4.9% growth that year.
Charles Ballard, a professor of economics at Michigan State University, said the report's upbeat assessment of Michigan's output is consistent with the state's rapidly improving employment numbers of the past two years.
"Michigan employment has been growing faster in the last two years than the nation as a whole," he said Tuesday. The BEA report, he added, "gives us further confidence that what we're seeing is real."
Durable-goods manufacturing, including the automotive industry, was the largest contributor to the nation's GDP by state growth in 2011. Manufacturing of durable goods increased 7.9% in 2011, after increasing 17% in 2010. It was the leading contributor to real GDP growth in six of the eight BEA regions and in 26 states.
Durable-goods manufacturing contributed 3.94 percentage points to growth in Oregon and 1.17 percentage points to growth in Michigan, or more than half of Michigan's overall growth in output.
The nation's fastest-growing state economy was North Dakota's, which expanded 7.6% in 2011. The weakest performing state was Wyoming, which saw its economic output shrink by 1.2% last year.
Post je objavljen 06.06.2012. u 09:20 sati.