Michigan Future’s origins and current work
Our goal is rising income for all: creating a Michigan economy that as it grows benefits all. Where the measure of economic success is household income based, rather than unemployment and economic growth rate based. Our work is focused on getting a data-driven, big-change economic well-being state policy agenda enacted in a purple state. Where […]
The wide variety of good-paying jobs now and in the future
As we explored in our last post conventional wisdom about the value of a B.A. in obtaining a good-paying job and having a prosperous forty-year career is vastly underestimated. The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce calculates that 59 percent of today’s good-paying jobs require a B.A. and that will grow to 66 […]
B.A. pathway dominates good-paying jobs today and tomorrow
Terrific new report entitled The Future of Good Jobs | Projections through 2031 by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Highly recommended. Using what we would consider a low-bar definition of a good-paying job the report projects in 2031 66 percent of good-paying jobs will be B.A. pathway jobs; 19 percent middle […]
The young adult B.A. advantage is growing
Conventional wisdom is overwhelmingly that earning a B.A. is now less and less valuable. The reality is the exact opposite: the young adult B.A. advantage is large and growing post pandemic. The Pew Research Center just released a report titled Is College Worth It? that documents both that conventional wisdom of the lack of value […]
The B.A. premium grows year after year
We have written frequently about the wage premium enjoyed by those with a four-year degree or more. And yet we continue with a public conversation that increasingly questions the value of getting a four-year degree or more. The reality is that a four-year degree or more is the most reliable path to a middle class […]
Two decades later, report finds that knowledge workers, not factory jobs, remain key to prosperity
Twenty years after the first edition of Michigan Future, Inc. and the University of Michigan’s report titled A New Path to Prosperity? Manufacturing and Knowledge-Based Industries As Drivers of Economic Growth was released, the two organizations are releasing a second edition which contains a startling finding: Michigan’s economic standing has plummeted with Michigan now ranking […]
Michigan’s Prosperity Will Be Generation Z Driven
Adapted from Michigan Future, Inc. President Lou Glazer’s Growing Michigan Together Council presentation on November 2, 2023. Michigan was a 20th Century high-prosperity state. Now we are a 21st Century low-prosperity state. Ranking 39th in per capita income, 13 percent below the national average in 2022. This is the lowest Michigan has been compared to […]
Michigan’s Path to Prosperity
Editor’s Note: This article appeared in the September/October 2023 issue of the Michigan Planner. The Michigan Planner magazine is delivered six times per year to members of the Michigan Association of Planning, the Michigan Chapter of the American Planning Association. The Michigan Association of Planning exists to promote quality community planning through education, information and advocacy, […]
Explaining Michigan’s economic well-being decline
Michigan’s per capita income in 2022 was 13 percent below the national average, the lowest compared to the nation ever. The state ranked 39th. (For those who prefer median household income as a measure of economic well being, Michigan ranks 37th.) Michigan is now structurally one of the nation’s poorest states. This, of course, is the exact […]
Fixing the damn roads isn’t the answer
When it comes to getting younger––particularly retaining and attracting recent college graduates––fixing the damn roads is not the answer. In a recent report the Citizens Research Council includes a top and bottom ten list of state road conditions compiled by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The top ten states in order are • Nevada •North Dakota •Florida […]