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Leading Indicators for the Detroit Region and Comparison Regions: Summary Findings
Design Regional Detroit will develop and implement a blueprint for achieving long-term economic and community prosperity in Southeast Michigan. Research has been compiled that describes the region’s demographics, economy, and quality of life. The following findings from the research highlight how the region fares compared to the state, four other regions (Atlanta, Boston, Houston, and Philadelphia), and the nation.
Rationale for Selecting Four Comparison Regions
- Overall, our goal was to select comparison regions that have or are in the process of “reinventing” themselves, especially from an industrial base in the past.
- The decisions on comparison regions were then based on several factors, but the Detroit Regional Chamber (DRC) and Public Sector Consultants Inc. (PSC) felt that each region should have some similarities with the Detroit Region (population and, except for Boston, racial composition) and some qualities toward which Detroit can aspire (higher educational attainment of the population, higher per capita income growth, higher economic integration between the central city and the suburbs, and/or higher ranking among Forbes’ best places to do business).
Given these general considerations, the specific comparison regions were selected as follows:
- Atlanta was chosen because we wanted a region in the southeast, which many feel is the Midwest’s leading competition for new business. In addition, Atlanta has a higher percentage of African-Americans in its population than the Detroit Region and is among the least economically segregated regions in the nation. Moreover, it ranks 9th among 150 regions in Forbes’ best places to do business in the county and is 16th among 150 regions in educational attainment.
- Boston was selected because its per capita income grew dramatically between 1994 and 2003 (57% to the Detroit Region’s 44%), Forbes ranks it much higher as a place to do business, and it is ranked much higher in the educational attainment of its residents.
- Houston was chosen because it is similar to Detroit in population and racial composition and is higher ranked in per capita income growth, job growth, cost of doing business, educational attainment, and economic integration.
- Philadelphia was chosen because of similarities to the region in population and racial composition and higher ranking in economic integration and Forbes’ rankings of the best regions for business.
Indicators on which the Detroit Region is Faring Well
- Working poor (lower rate of working poor in the Detroit metro area than Michigan, the U.S., Atlanta, and Houston)
- High technology employment (the Detroit region is better than the comparison regions, except for Boston (same), but it has been declining between 1998 and 2002)
- Average hourly wage (higher in the region than in the state and the U.S.; no information available for comparison regions)
- Productivity of manufacturing workers (better than Michigan, the U.S., Atlanta, and Boston.)
- Research and development expenditures (better than Atlanta, Houston, and Philadelphia)
- Capital expenditures in manufacturing (same as Michigan but better than Atlanta, Boston, and Philadelphia; however, Detroit region fares worse among comparison regions between 1997 and 2002)
- Patents (better than Atlanta, Houston, and Philadelphia)
- High school graduates (better than Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, and the U.S.)
- Science and engineering graduate students (better than Michigan, Atlanta, and Houston)
- Health care quality performance of hospitals (better than Atlanta, Boston, Houston, and Philadelphia)
Indicators on Which the Detroit Region is Faring the Same
- Population, by age
- Per capita income
- Household income distribution
- Employmentby sector
- Sales per worker
- University rankings (most of the nine major universities rank in the top half of their peer group)
- Health risk behaviors, e.g., smoking rates, health insurance, obesity
Indicators on Which the Detroit Region is Faring Less Well
- Population growth (lower rate of growth than all comparison regions, Michigan, and the U.S.)
- Poverty (lower than the U.S. and Houston, but well above Boston and higher than Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Michigan)
- Economic segregation (the extent to which higher income households are or are not located outside the core city of a region—more economically segregated than all but Philadelphia)
- Employment growth (lower rate of growth than all comparison regions, Michigan, and the U.S.)
- Employment, by pay and education (the Detroit region has a lower rate of increase in middle- and high-pay, high-education jobs than Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia)
- Unemployment (higher than comparison regions)
- Forbes Rankings Best of Places for Businesses and Careers (lower ranking than Atlanta, Boston, Houston, and Philadelphia; Ann Arbor ranks higher than Detroit, Boston, and Philadelphia)
- Venture capital (lower than comparison regions)
- College graduates (lower than comparison regions, same as Michigan and the U.S.)
- Migration of the young, single, and college educated (fare less well than Atlanta, Boston, and Houston, but better than Philadelphia and Michigan)
- Health care costs per employee (higher than comparison regions)
- Population and Urban Land/Sprawl (less well than Atlanta, Boston, Houston, and U.S.)
- Crime (higher crime rates than the comparison regions)
Other Interesting Information about the Region
- Minority Population. In 2004, minorities made up 28.8 percent of the population in the Detroit metro area. This was a higher share of the population than in the nation (18.9 percent) and in Boston (19.1 percent) and slightly less than the minority population in the Philadelphia area (31.3 percent). Both the Atlanta and Houston metro areas have a minority population significantly larger than the Detroit region’s.
- Future Job Growth. The sectors in the Detroit metro area projected to generate the most jobs in the 2002–2012 period are services, health care, and education.
- For occupations requiring a four-year college degree, the greatest rate of growth for 2002–2012 in southeast Michigan is predicted for computer software engineers (systems software and applications), physician assistants, database administrators, and personal finance advisors. The occupations in this category with the greatest number of total annual openings for the 2002–2012 period are registered nurses, accountants and auditors, computer software engineers (systems software and applications), and mechanical engineers.
- The fastest growing occupations requiring an associate’s degree, vocational training, or long-term on-the-job-training are medical records and health information technicians, dental hygienists, heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers, brickmasons and blockmasons, and audio and video equipment technicians. Occupations in this category with the greatest number of predicted annual openings are carpenters, cooks, plumbers, computer support specialists, and purchasing agent.
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