Oakland County, long a superstar economic performer and among the wealthiest big counties in the nation, is slipping, another worrisome indicator of Michigan’s sinking competitiveness.
The suburban Detroit county’s economic fundamentals are still enviable. Oakland boasts a highly educated workforce, good schools, hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs and low child poverty. It annually churns out nearly a quarter of Michigan’s goods and services.
But the county has recently been struggling to hang on to its prized professional, technical and scientific services jobs. And it has fallen from sixth in 2019 to 11th this year among 27 similar-sized suburban counties nationwide in a measure that includes educational attainment, income, child poverty and the percentage of managerial and professional jobs…