The New York Times recently wrote about Ford's purchase of the long-abandoned Detroit train station. The article's subtitle is what matters: By renovating a symbol of the city’s decline, the company hopes to create a magnet for the talent needed to…
Last year we published our first-ever state policy recommendations. Our motivation for doing so is a sense of urgency that across the political spectrum we need a different set of policy options. Ideas not about how we can turn the clock…
Our second most read post recently is a 2016 post on what skilled trades jobs pay. I wrote the 2016 post because I was then––and am now––skeptical of the claims about the number of jobs and pay in the traditional blue collar…
The Michigan Association of United Way's ALICE report is the best calculation of the proportion of Michigan households that cannot afford basic necessities. That 40 percent of Michigan households––in a strong economy––can't pay for basic necessities should be sending off…
The preeminent challenge of our times is figuring out how to reverse what is being called the Great Decoupling. Where even when the economy is growing––as it has been in Michigan since the end of the Great Recession––only those at…
As we explored in my Google finds that STEM aren't the most important skills post, Google determined that "the seven top characteristics of success at Google are all soft skills: being a good coach; communicating and listening well; possessing insights…
So says Neel Kashkari, president and chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Specifically Business North reports he said in a recent speech: “Almost everywhere I go, businesses tell me they can’t find workers. I always ask them the same question:…
The chart below makes clear, once again, that those with a four-year degree or more earn the highest wages. And that advantage is growing. Unabated from 1979 through 2017. This data also make clear that the demand for those with…
The Bureau of Labor Statistics each year publishes a chart that details the unemployment rate and median weekly earnings by education attainment for those 25 and older. The data for 2107 are below. Year after year the same story. Each…
This is a rerun of a 2013 post. I thought it worth rerunning because it describes well how one puts together a successful forty-year career in an economy where the nature of work is constantly changing. It is about a…