The best way to raise household income: increase education attainment
By far the most reliable way to raise Michiganders’ household income is increased education attainment. The table below makes clear: the higher one’s education attainment the more one works and earns. The most reliable path to a good-paying career is with a bachelor’s degree or more, in both STEM and non-STEM fields. The power of […]
The levers that raise household income for all
At the core of our agenda for raising Michiganders’ household income is the conviction that human capital is the asset that matters most to individual and state economic well-being. We agree with Governor Snyder when he wrote in his Special Message on Developing and Connecting Michigan Talent: In the 20th Century, the most valuable assets […]
Transformed work requires transformed policy
The key to having an economy with rising household incomes for all are good-paying jobs and careers. Where careers are for forty years, not a first job. The prime focus of economic policy must be helping people have a career of good-paying work. Also understanding that good-paying work today and, even more so, tomorrow looks […]
Michiganders need a new economic agenda
Our new report, A Path to Good-paying Careers for all Michiganders, recommends big changes in state economic policy. The need for such an agenda is clear. In the seventh year of a national economic expansion––and an even stronger rebound from near bankruptcy of the domestic auto industry––too many Michigan households are struggling. Michigan’s substantial economic […]
Our first state policy agenda
Our new report, A Path to Good-paying Careers for all Michiganders: A 21st Century State Policy Agenda, is about state policy. Our motivation in doing our first ever policy agenda is a sense of urgency that across the political spectrum we need a different set of policy options. Ideas not about how we can turn […]
When $14 million is worth more than $1.3 billion
Two important recent announcements of auto industry investment in the U.S. One from Toyota that they are investing $1.3 billion dollars in updating their Georgetown Kentucky assembly plant. The other from General Motors that they are investing $14 million in a new research and development facility for its San Francisco-based self-driving technology company. Seems like the Toyota […]
A Michigan economy not working for far too many
The new Michigan Association of United Ways ALICE report (for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), makes clear that Michigan is facing severe structural economic challenges. In the seventh year of a national economic expansion––and an even stronger rebound from near bankruptcy of the domestic auto industry––too many Michigan households are struggling. Forty percent of Michigan […]
The ongoing transformation of how we earn a living
We continue to work on Michigan Future’s first ever state policy agenda. The goal is to recommend state policies that will help all Michiganders do better economically in the context of today’s and tomorrow’s realities. Not to try to use policy to turn the clock back. What has become clear to us in doing the […]
Why do we want to be like those states?
In my last post we looked at evidence that the most prosperous non-energy states were those with the highest college attainment, not the lowest taxes. In this post I want to look at the states the tax cutters in Lansing are telling us we need to emulate. The argument of many advocating for an elimination […]
College attainment drives state per capita income
We are constantly barraged with those claiming that low tax states have the best economies. And only slightly less so that getting a four year degree is no longer a path to prosperity, at least for those without a STEM degree. Neither are accurate. When it comes to determining which states are prosperous four year […]