A strong safety-net to get Michiganders back to work
Some in Lansing would have you believe that our economy is as healthy as ever, with the state’s unemployment rate as low as it’s been since the early 2000s. The problem is that the unemployment rate isn’t a great measure of how many people are working (not to mention how much they’re working or how […]
Tax policy that is anti talent development
Most of the analysis of the proposed sweeping changes to the nation’s tax system have focused on who wins and who loses. Companies vs. individuals. The rich vs. the middle class vs. low income households. This, of course, matters enormously. But in this post I want to focus on a different set of winners and […]
Macomb leverages water and parks to draw talent
Close your eyes and think of Macomb County, Michigan. What comes to mind? Perhaps you think of vast stretches of industrial shops and auto plants, bedroom communities or even influential swing voters. But now county leaders are banking on a new vision of Macomb County: bucolic bike paths and scenic water ways. At Advancing Macomb’s […]
Declining blue-collar employment 2006-2026
The basic change in the economy we have been documenting for more than two decades is the transition from a factory-based to a knowledge-based economy. More broadly from a goods-producing to a service-providing economy. One where good-paying jobs are now concentrated in knowledge-based services. The new 2016-2026 employment projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics […]
Occupations in Michigan: The Future Won’t Look Like the Past
Two weeks ago on this blog, Lou wrote about some new job projections for 2016-2026 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). BLS data show that job growth between now and 2026 is going to be clustered at either end of the education spectrum: 47 percent of job growth will be in jobs requiring a […]
An attempt to measure what matters
In our statewide education agenda released earlier this year, we call for a new set of foundation skills to be the focus of our education system. Based on the work of learning scientists Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff in their book Becoming Brilliant, we propose that the 6 Cs – collaboration, communication, content (moving […]
Only high school required dominates new job projections
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) just released their job projections for 2016-2026. The Atlantic did a good overview article of the data entitled Why Nerds and Nurses are Taking Over the U.S. Economy. The BLS also did a summary analysis of the data. Both are worth checking out. What I want to focus on […]
Higher education’s role as an economic mobilizer threatened by defunding
Michigan Future Inc. has long argued that the state’s economic policy should be organized around the goal of raising household incomes for all Michiganders. We have also long championed boosting the number of four-year degree holders in our state as the most effective policy lever to accomplish this goal. There is ample evidence that there […]