The four-year degree wage premium is growing
The core lesson Michigan Future has learned in more than a quarter of a century of research about the Michigan and national economy is that the single best predictor of individual and community prosperity is a four-year degree. This, of course, is now not conventional wisdom. We are constantly bombarded by way too many business […]
How are Michigan’s women doing? Not great. (Part 2)
On Wednesday I wrote about how women in particular are doing in Michigan’s–and the world’s–changing economy. I started by sharing data on single women-led households with children, who are more likely than not to be living in poverty. Then I took a look at educational achievement. Today I turn to income and employment, health, and leadership. […]
How are Michigan’s women doing? Not great. (Part 1)
Following a weekend in which, for the second year in a row, women around the world marched for a variety of issues affecting women and communities they care about, I thought it would be appropriate to spend a minute here asking: how are women in Michigan doing these days? For my answers, I turned first […]
Amazon says no to Michigan for HQ2. We aren’t surprised.
Michigan’s two big metros not being selected as finalist for the Amazon’s HQ2 should not surprise anyone. Amazon made clear that it wanted—really needed—to locate in a community with high talent concentrations today and tomorrow. Neither metro Detroit nor metro Grand Rapids are competitive talent magnets. The reality is that in the growing high wage […]
What does deeper learning look like?
At the core of our statewide education agenda released earlier this year is the idea that we need to shift to an education system in which the 6 Cs – collaboration, communication, content, critical thinking, creative innovation, and confidence – become the foundation skills that we build in every student, rather than narrowly defined math […]
An expanded safety net for a disruptive economy
Policymakers in both Lansing and Washington seem hellbent on slashing the safety net. In part, they argue, because a too generous safety net gives folks an incentive not to work. The evidence suggests the opposite. As we detail in our Minnesota policy case study, Minnesota has by far the highest proportion of adults who work […]
Could college degrees save the lives of Michiganders?
We at Michigan Future Inc. have not been shy about sharing ample research that demonstrates the correlation between degree attainment and economic stability. It’s no coincidence that Michigan ranks 32nd for both college degree attainment and per capita income. But recent research suggests that lacking a college degree may not only threaten one’s bottom line, […]
Google finds STEM skills aren’t the most important skills
Terrific Washington Post column on research done by Google on the skills that matter most to its employees success. Big surprise: it wasn’t STEM. The Post writes: Sergey Brin and Larry Page, both brilliant computer scientists, founded their company on the conviction that only technologists can understand technology. Google originally set its hiring algorithms to sort for […]
From the swimming pool to the classroom: more thoughts on confidence
In my last post, I walked us through the four levels of confidence that are described by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek in their book, Becoming Brilliant. They describe confidence as one of six of the most important capacities that children will need to be successful in the future economy. And I claimed that […]