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Michigan’s economy is benefitting from increasing auto sales and production, and that’s helping fuel a slow increase in Comerica Bank’s Michigan Economic Activity Index. The index rose one point in September to a level of 88. The September index level is 24 percent above the index cyclical low of 71. Year-to-date, the index has averaged 87 points, two points above the average for all of 2010.

“The climb out of the depths of the recession still looks very uneven, though, as hard-hit areas within Michigan are stuck with very high unemployment rates,” Robert Dye, Comerica’s chief economist, said in a statement. “Moreover, where we have seen declines in regional unemployment rates, the declines are due not just to job growth, but also to declines in the labor force, reflecting lower labor force participation rates. Housing markets in Michigan and elsewhere are still a drag to economic growth and will likely be soft through 2012.”

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• comerica bank
• michigan
• robert dye