Post pandemic Michigan continues to have a two tiered economy. The reality is in 2024 Michigan has two labor markets, not one. One tier of occupations that do not require a BA where a preponderance of jobs pay below what it takes to earn middle income wages; and a second tier of occupations that require a BA where the preponderance of jobs pay more than what it takes to earn middle incomes.
To make matters worse, employment in the low BA requirement tier far out number employment in the high B.A. requirement tier. Of 4.39 million Michigan payroll jobs 2.87 million jobs (65 percent) are in the low B.A. requirement occupations compared to 1.52 million (35 percent) in the high BA requirement occupations.
(The low B.A. required major occupations are: Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance; Construction and Extraction; Farming, Fishing, and Forestry; Food Preparation and Serving Related; Healthcare Support; Installation, Maintenance, and Repair; Office and Administrative Support; Personal Care and Service; Production; Protective Service; Sales and Related; and Transportation and Material Moving.
The high B.A. required major occupations are: Architecture and Engineering; Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media; Business and Financial Operations; Community and Social Service; Computer and Mathematical; Educational Instruction and Library; Healthcare Practitioners and Technical; Legal; Life, Physical, and Social Science; and Management.)
We divided the labor market into payroll jobs that pay low income (less than $60,000), payroll jobs that pay middle income, (greater than $60,000 less than $100,000), and payroll jobs that pay high income (greater than $100,000). The source for the occupational wage data is the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Survey, May 2024. The analysis was done by Don Grimes, Michigan Future’s research specialist.
The headline is that more than six in ten Michigan payroll jobs do not pay middle income wages. When you dive deeper into the data it is clear the main reason for so many jobs not paying middle income is that Michigan’s economy is dominated by the low BA attainment tier. Where more than three quarters of the jobs do not pay middle income wages.
- Of all Michigan payroll jobs 62 percent are low income, 26 percent are middle income and 12 percent are high income.
- In the low BA requirement tier 77 percent are low income, 21 percent are middle income and 2 percent are high income.
- In the high BA requirement tier 29 percent are low income, 40 percent are middle income and 31 percent are high income.
So in our two tiered economy, the low BA attainment tier accounts for 36 percent of the jobs that pay our middle income threshold or higher; the high BA attainment tier accounts for 64 percent of the jobs that pay our middle income threshold or higher. The low BA attainment tier accounts for 84 percent of the jobs that pay lower than our middle income threshold; the high BA attainment tier accounts for 16 percent of the jobs that pay our middle income threshold or higher.
The stark differences in the two tiers can be seen in the graphic below. On the left hand side are the twelve major occupations where almost no jobs require a BA and a small proportion of jobs pay middle income wages. On the right had side of the graphic are the ten major occupations where most jobs require a BA and most jobs pay middle income wages and above.
