PONTIAC, Mich. - Economists are predicting that Oakland County in a few years will have replenished 87 percent of jobs lost from 2000 through summer 2009.
Experts at the University of Michigan believe the county's unemployment rate will fall below 5 percent next year. The annual forecast was released Thursday.
George Fulton and Don Grimes say the prosperous Detroit-area county will benefit from an expanding national economy, the auto industry and a strong local economy. They say professional and business services will account for 38 percent of job growth in Oakland over the next three years.
Auto factory jobs will represent less than 3 percent of jobs by 2017, according to the forecast.
