Chapter 6:

Economic Profile

The purpose of this profile is to document the characteristics of the community’s economy and income and to identify historical patterns. The majority of the data presented within this chapter has been gathered from the 1990 U.S. Census, which, for the majority of elements is the most recent published data available. Where appropriate, the data described in this chapter is benchmarked to county demographics.

Employment

Data in Table 15 document employment by major industry groupings for residents of Suttons Bay Township and Leelanau County. Employment by industry patterns for township residents are similar to the employment patterns for county residents. The professional health, education and related services grouping represent the largest employment sector for township residents, employing 23.2 percent of the workforce. The second largest employment sector is wholesale and retail trade, comprising 18.6 percent of the Township workforce.

Table 15 1990 Employment by Selected Industry
Industry	Suttons Bay Township		Leelanau County
	No.	Percent	No.	Percent
Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries	74	10.4	456	5.9
Construction	80	11.3	791	10.3
Manufacturing	75	10.5	864	11.2
Transportation, Utilities, Comm.	24	3.4	405	5.3
Wholesale & Retail Trade	132	18.6	1,684	21.9
Finance, Insurance, Real Estate	33	4.6	474	6.2
Business & Repair Services	27	3.8	296	3.8
Personal, Entertainment, Recreation Services	52	7.3	440	5.7
Professional, Health, Education, Related Services	165	23.2	1,882	24.4
Public Administration	45	6.3	340	4.4
Mining	4	0.6	69	0.9
Total	711	100.0	7,701	100.0
Source: 1990 U.S. Census

In comparison to Leelanau County, Suttons Bay Township had a higher percentage of residents employed in agriculture, forestry, fisheries and a lower percentage of residents employed in wholesale and retail trades.

Data in Table 16 document the employment by occupation for Suttons Bay Township and Leelanau County residents. The greatest number of persons in Suttons Bay Township are employed in managerial and professional specialty occupations (21.8 percent) followed by technical and administrative support (17.7 percent) professions.

Table 16 1990 Employment by Selected Occupation
	Suttons Bay Township		Leelanau County
Occupation	No.	Percent	No.	Percent
Managerial & Professional Specialty	155	21.8	2,033	26.4
Technical & Administrative Support	126	17.7	1,234	16.0
Private Household Occupations	7	1.0	51	0.7
Sales Workers	76	10.7	977	12.7
Service Workers	102	14.3	949	12.3
Farming, Forestry, Fishing	62	8.7	437	5.7
Precision Production, Crafts, Repair	90	12.7	1,092	14.2
Operators, Fabricators, Laborers	93	13.1	928	12.0
Total	711	100.0	7,701	100.0
Source: 1990 U.S. Census

Employment by occupation characteristics for township and county residents are generally parallel. Two notable exceptions include the farming, forestry, fisheries and managerial and professional specialty occupations. The proportion of township residents whose occupation involves farming, forestry, fisheries is higher than the proportion of county residents so employed. For managerial and professional specialty category, fewer township residents are so employed than residents of the county as a whole.

Table 17 documents the county-wide trend in the number of employment establishments. The greatest growth in employment establishments occurred in the services sector (207.0 percent), the finance, insurance, real estate sector (131.3 percent), and the construction sector (96.4 percent).

Table 17 1978-1992 Number of Employment Establishments
Establishments	1978	1985	1992	Percent Change
				78-85	85-92	78-92
Construction	55	43	108	(21.8)	151.2	96.4
Manufacturing	20	24	24	20.0	0.0	20.0
Transportation & Public Utilities