Livingston County Economy

Occupations

The occupations of county residents are classified into six major occupation categories identified in the census. The six major headings are divided further into a total of thirteen subheadings. The occupation levels indicate that more employed county residents are white-collar workers than blue-collar workers. White-collar workers are identified by the first two occupation categories - professional and technical. These occupations total 34,025, which is 58 percent of the 1990 county work force. The other four categories form the blue-collar identity and total 42 percent of the work force.

The dramatic population increase in the last decade produced some startling changes in occupation levels.

All categories except farming experienced significant increases. Professionals experienced a 60 percent increase and the Technical sector received a 58.7 percent increase. A partial explanation for the relatively large increases is due to Livingston County's close proximity to major metropolitan markets. Many professional and technical workers have elected to live here and commute to their jobs.

Livingston County Labor Force

In 1990, the total number of persons 16 years and over in Livingston County who are in the labor force totaled 61,601. This represents 71.2 percent of the 16 year and older population. One hundred four persons in the county labor force are in the Armed Forces while the remainder are in the civilian labor force. Of the 61,497 civilian laborers reported in the 1990 census, 95.2% of persons were employed (58,567) while 4.8% were unemployed (2,930). Among all Livingston County males age 16 years and older, 81.1% are in the labor force. Of all county females age 16 years and older, 61.3% are in the labor force. The number of women who are not in the labor force (16,700) is double that of men who are not in the labor force (8,210). A portion of the women who are not in the labor force are probably women who choose to stay at home with children, although 1990 census statistics report that among Livingston County females with children under age 18, 67.7 % remain in the labor force.

Commuters

The favorable geographic position of Livingston County; surrounded on four sides by the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Flint, Lansing and Ann Arbor, is an attractive location for families who choose to reside outside of their place of work. The proportion of residents who commute to work outside Livingston County increased steadily over the last two decades from 45 percent in 1970 to 53 percent in 1980 and 57 percent in 1990. In 1990 Livingston County recorded 57,448 residents who are employed, of which 24,648 (42.9 percent) worked in the county. The county exports 17.9 percent of its resident workers to Oakland County, 15.2 percent to Washtenaw County and 13.8 percent to Wayne County. The county imports 15,000 workers, of which 7.6 percent come from Oakland, 4.7 percent from Ingham, 4.2 percent from Washtenaw, 3.9 percent from Genesee and 3.1 percent from Wayne. The worker to resident ratio in Livingston County is .59. This means the county only has six jobs for every ten residents.

Unemployment

Through the mid to late 1980's county unemployment figures were on a steady decrease. In 1989 unemployment figures began to climb and peaked at 8.1% unemployment in 1991. Since that time unemployment figures have dropped each year to 2.2% in 1999 which represents the lowest unemployment percentage in over ten years. Livingston County's 1999 annual average unemployment rate is substantially below the state of Michigan's 1999 annual average rate of 3.8%.

Agriculture

The 1997 Census of Agriculture reveals that in the last fifteen years from 1982 to 1997, the total number of farms in Livingston County have decreased by 27.9% from 884 farms to 637 farms. Total farm acreage has also decreased by 28.7% from 137,918 acres to 98,297 acres, yet the average number of acres per farm in Livingston County is virtually unchanged from 156 in 1982 to 154 in 1997. From 1982 to 1992 the average number of acres per farm in Livingston County followed national agricultural trends that indicated that the number of farms were shrinking while their average size was growing; however, since 1992, both the number of Livingston County farms and the average size of these farms has been shrinking. Overall, total farm acreage has dwindled as urbanized developments have gradually taken over. In 1997, out of Michigan's 83 counties, Livingston County ranked 33 in number of farms. Among Michigan counties Livingston County ranked 41 in total 1997 farm acreage.