The competitiveness case for higher Michigan taxes

Dug Song, co-founder and general manager of Duo Security, in an interview with Crain’s Detroit Business, makes the case for higher Michigan taxes. Higher Michigan taxes to invest in education and transit. The two assets that Song believes Michigan needs most to be competitive for companies like his. Crain’s writes: Top of mind for the […]
How to improve community college completion rates

By and large across Michigan and the country community college completion rates are quite low. As detailed in Redesigning America’s Community Colleges this largely is a result of how community colleges are designed. For ease of access, not completion. Redesigning America’s Community Colleges, as we have explored previously, lays out a detailed playbook on how […]
Technology driving wages down in the hospitality industry

The hospitality industry is characterized by lots of low-wage workers. E. Tammy Kim, in a New York Times column entitled The Gig Economy is Coming For Your Job, writes about how technology is allowing the hospitality industry to use gig workers to increase the number of low-wage workers. She writes: … The doormen and bellmen […]
The economy is producing way too many low-wage jobs

Readers of this blog know that at Michigan Future we believe the mission of economic policy should be income based, not employment or economic growth based. The reality is you do not have a good economy––no mater how low the unemployment rate or how high the economic growth rate or stock market––when 43 percent of […]
Outsmarting the robots recommended media

We provided participants in our education redesign conference, Outsmarting the Robots with a list of recommended reading, podcast and video. We wanted to share those recommendations more broadly. The list was assembled to include media we found interesting about the nature of work, today and tomorrow, as well as the kind of education/youth development that […]
The big picture: Michigan’s core economic challenges

Let’s start the new year with the big picture. An overview of the structural economic challenges Michigan faces if we are to have an economy that as it grows benefits all. Redefining economic success. First is understanding that even though Michigan has a historically low unemployment rate and corporate Michigan is doing well (as are […]
Finland: capitalism and shared prosperity

In a must-read New York Times article entitled Finland is a Capitalist Paradise, Anu Partanen and Trevor Corson describe a path for America to become a place with a capitalism that results in shared prosperity. Finland has rejected the notion that you have to choose one or the other. As described by Partanen and Corson […]
Michigan falling behind on wages and benefits

When its comes to wages and benefits Michigan used to be among the top states. No more. The state has fallen from 8th in 1990 to 21st in 2018. Michigan has gone from $3,743 above the nation on average compensation to $4,416 below in inflation adjusted dollars. The table at the end of this post […]
25-34 year old African Americans B.A. earnings premium

In a previous post we explored the huge B.A. earnings premium for 25-34 year olds. In this post I want to explore how well 25-34 year old African Americans with a four-year degree or more do in the labor market compared to other African Americans with lower education attainment and compared to whites. The data […]
We support, but are disappointed in, charter schools

Reading Richard Whitmire’s worth reading The B.A. Breakthrough reminded me why Michigan Future has been supportive of charter schools from their inception in Michigan more than a quarter of century ago. Largely because they provide an alternative to chronically failing big city school district’s schools. Whitmire chronicles how the best of the national charter networks […]