How to pay for our policy agenda
Many of our recommendations laid out in our new report, A path to good-paying careers for all Michiganders, involve increasing public investments. Which raises the question, “how do you pay for those essential public investments?” We have long believed, and the data show, that the states and regions with the most prosperous economies––the broadest middle […]
Sharing prosperity with those not participating in the high-wage economy
Most jobs now and in the future will not be high skill. And therefore will not be high paid. That is the fundamental shift that has occurred in our economy over the past several decades. The high-paid, low-education-attainment jobs that were the backbone of Michigan’s mass 20th Century middle class are gone forever. In their […]
Place attracts talent. Talent = economic growth
Then New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg got it right when he wrote in a Financial Times column: The most creative individuals want to live in places that protect personal freedoms, prize diversity and offer an abundance of cultural opportunities. A city that wants to attract creators must offer a fertile breeding ground for new […]
The need to transform education from birth through college
As we detail in our new report, A path to good-paying careers for all Michiganders, if Michigan is going to be a place with a broad middle class, if employers are going to have the supply of skilled workers they need and if Michigan is going to be a place once again where kids regularly do […]
The best way to raise household income: increase education attainment
By far the most reliable way to raise Michiganders’ household income is increased education attainment. The table below makes clear: the higher one’s education attainment the more one works and earns. The most reliable path to a good-paying career is with a bachelor’s degree or more, in both STEM and non-STEM fields. The power of […]
The levers that raise household income for all
At the core of our agenda for raising Michiganders’ household income is the conviction that human capital is the asset that matters most to individual and state economic well-being. We agree with Governor Snyder when he wrote in his Special Message on Developing and Connecting Michigan Talent: In the 20th Century, the most valuable assets […]
Transformed work requires transformed policy
The key to having an economy with rising household incomes for all are good-paying jobs and careers. Where careers are for forty years, not a first job. The prime focus of economic policy must be helping people have a career of good-paying work. Also understanding that good-paying work today and, even more so, tomorrow looks […]
Michiganders need a new economic agenda
Our new report, A Path to Good-paying Careers for all Michiganders, recommends big changes in state economic policy. The need for such an agenda is clear. In the seventh year of a national economic expansion––and an even stronger rebound from near bankruptcy of the domestic auto industry––too many Michigan households are struggling. Michigan’s substantial economic […]
Our first state policy agenda
Our new report, A Path to Good-paying Careers for all Michiganders: A 21st Century State Policy Agenda, is about state policy. Our motivation in doing our first ever policy agenda 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 […]