A New Economic Development Strategy for Michigan: put people and place first to create good-paying jobs
The evidence is clear that it’s time to stop a failed economic development strategy that invests state resources in businesses, and reorient towards investments in talent. In this commentary, first published by Bridge and co-written with Ned Staebler of Wayne State’s Office of Economic Development and TechTown, we argue that economic developers in Michigan are looking at their task all wrong. For Michigan…
Whitmer’s rising household income for all agenda
Governor Whitmer's new economic policy agenda states: The construction of this agenda has, as a guiding principle, the idea that a primary goal of state economic policy should be rising household incomes for all Michiganders, especially those who are struggling. This is a huge step forward in insuring that we have an economy that as it grows benefits all. As…
Blue collar occupations don’t dominate good-paying jobs
Conventional wisdom has it that there are two dominant paths to good-paying jobs and careers: STEM occupations and the skilled trades. In our last post we looked at STEM occupations including those classified as a professional trade. In this post we will focus on the proportion of good-paying Michigan jobs that are blue collar occupations, including but not limited to…
STEM occupations don’t dominate good-paying jobs
Conventional wisdom has it that there are two dominant paths to good-paying jobs and careers: STEM occupations and the skilled trades. In this post I want to focus on the proportion of good-paying Michigan jobs that are in STEM. In our next post we will do the same for blue collar jobs, including but not limited to the skilled trades.…
Our op-ed in Bridge: it’s time for human capital-focused economic development
On Tuesday, Bridge published an essay I co-wrote with Ned Staebler, the vice president for economic development at Wayne State University and the president and CEO of TechTown. We hope to inspire an important conversation among those who work in economic development in Michigan. The evidence is clear that it's time to stop a failed economic development strategy that invests…
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Creating places across Michigan where people want to live and work
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Improving student outcomes from education, birth to college
A Path to Good-paying Careers for all Michiganders: A 21st Century state policy agenda