The pandemic is hardening our two-tier economy
The pandemic is hardening our two-tier economy. One where those at the top are doing well, but way too many Michiganders are struggling. Low-wage workers have suffered the most since the onset of the pandemic and the forecast is that reality will last for years. This repeats the experience during and after the Great Recession. […]
Winning in the 21st Century: Austin
Austin Texas voters just voted to raise property taxes to pay for the operations and maintenance of Project Connect, a high-capacity $7.1 billion transit system expansion. Project Connect is highlighted by a new light rail system with 27 miles of service and 31 stations. It also includes a transit tunnel under downtown (think subway); four […]
What are and how to teach 21st century skills
A little more than a year ago the Grand Rapids Public Museum hosted Outsmarting the Robots: Redesigning education from the classroom to the halls of Lansing. The conference was organized around the question “how do we redesign our system for learning to build the 21st century skills that matter to meeting the needs of our […]
The preeminent path to good-paying careers
The preeminent path to good-paying careers looks more like rock climbing than climbing a career ladder. More ad hoc and non linear than predictable and linear. What makes successful careers for most of us are our second and third jobs, not our first. And second and third job skills tend to be very different than […]
Six-figure jobs by education attainment
The oft-repeated case for you don’t need to go to college is almost always anchored by the claim that there are plenty of six-figure jobs available to young workers who do not have a four-year degree. The story goes that others’ kids should forgo pursuing a four-year degree because some so-called professional trade is paying […]
Kent County’s welcoming to all plan
Michigan Future’s core work, since our founding nearly three decades ago, has been laying out how Michigan could once again be a high-prosperity state––a place with a broad middle class––in an economy being transformed by globalization and technology. The bottom line of our decades of research can be summarized in three words: talent attracts capital. […]
Imaging the post-pandemic big city
In two recent posts (here and here) we have explored why the demise of big cities due to the pandemic is unlikely to happen. That American history is full of predictions of the death of the city which have always been wrong. Why? First concentrated talent working face to face significantly boosts productivity. So employers––particularly […]
Google and our education caste system
Google, with much fanfare, recently announced “three new Google Career Certificates in the high-paying, high-growth career fields of Data Analytics, Project Management, and User Experience (UX) Design. Like our IT Support and Automation in Python Certificates, these new career programs are designed and taught by Google employees who work in these fields.” They further announced […]
Lessons from Michigan’s Hot 50 jobs
Michigan’s Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives recently released their 2018-2028 employment projections by occupation and industry. Also released was their Michigan’s Hot 50 Job Outlook Through 2028. Which lists the 50 occupations over the next decade that most combine high demand and high wages. High wage in this case means an occupation […]
High-density, high-amenity neighborhoods are not going away
As we explored in my last post from the beginning of our republic there has been predictions of the coming demise of high-density big cities. All of them have been wrong. The same is almost certain to be the case of today’s post-pandemic predictions of doom for big cities. There are two main reasons why […]