Governor Whitmer focuses on reducing ALICE
Governor Whitmer framed her announcements of expanding access to food assistance, cash assistance and State Emergency Relief and to increase the number of workers eligible for overtime pay in terms of helping Michigan’s ALICE households. This is exactly the approach to economic policy that Michigan most needs now. One that is focused on raising household […]
The nature of work today and tomorrow
I recently gave a speech at the Michigan Works Annual Conference on the future of work. It explores how the nature of work is likely to change largely because of automation. You can read the speech here. The speech does not predict a looming apocalypse. With not enough jobs for those who want and need […]
A liberal arts degree leads to a good-paying career
We are constantly besieged with messaging that a liberal arts degree is useless. Maybe even worse than useless: a path to being a pauper or something close. Stuck in low-paying work that leaves you unable to pay off the loans and earn enough to buy a house and raise a family. Think again! In a […]
Young professionals concentrating in big cities
More than a decade ago we identified four common characteristics of high-prosperity non-energy-driven states: Over concentrated in knowledge-based services which are the sectors of the economy both growing and high wage High proportion of adults with a four-year degree or more Even higher college attainment in the state’s big metro(s) In those big metros a […]
The myth of six-figure welders
We first wrote about welders in 2013. Its a topic we keep coming back to, most recently in a 2018 post entitled What skilled trades job actually pay. The reason why we keep writing about welders is they have become Exhibit One for the case why others’ kids don’t need to get a four-year degree […]