Metro Detroit May Be Down, But Jobs Report Clear: It's Not Out

Troubled Wayne County, which has asked the state to review its finances, got some good news this week in an analysis comparing new manufacturing job growth by county.

Wayne County is No. 1 in the country with 4,225 new manufacturing jobs created in 2014, according to Headlight Data, a Texas-based data information system company. Not only that, four of the top 10 manufacturing-job creation counties were Michigan.

Macomb County finished third with 3,727 new manufacturing jobs; and Kent and Ottawa counties, both part of the Grand Rapids metro area, finished seventh and 10th, with 2,492 and 2,069 new jobs, respectively.

The Top 10 rounded out with three counties in California, and one each in Indiana, North Carolina and Missouri. Data from more than 2,720 counties were analyzed for the ranking

Among Michigan counties, Calhoun County ranked last, with a loss of 761 jobs.

Below are the rankings of other metro Detroit counties:

• Oakland County, No 13: 1,928 new manufacturing jobs
• St. Clair County, No. 196, 343 new manufacturing jobs
• Livingston County, No. 267, 268 new manufacturing jobs
• Genesee County, No. 381, 193 new manufacturing jobs
• Lapeer County, No. 537, 119 new manufacturing jobs
• Monroe County, No. 2,622, 198 manufacturing jobs lost
• Washtenaw, No. 2,710, 633 manufacturing jobs lost