Michigan’s economy performed poorly during the 2000s, only to be hit hard by the recession near the end of the decade. While growth in the current decade has been tepid in Southeast Michigan, the Grand Rapids area is a boomtown. The region fully recovered from the recession and has grown beyond its peak in 2000. There are more people employed in the area — composed of Kent, Barry, Montcalm and Ottawa counties — and those workers are both producing and earning more. There are 542,600 jobs in the area, 19.8 percent more than its 2009 recessionary trough and 4 percent...