Michigan, Dallas and transit
A friend recently attended an urban development workshop in Dallas. Lots of content on retaining and attracting Millennials. She was surprised (me too when I heard about it) when in a session on transit oriented development the architect of the award winning Mockingbird Station started his talk by thanking the State of Michigan pension fund […]
Lack of transit and poverty
Important and surprising New York Times article entitled “Transportation Emerges as Crucial to Escaping Poverty”. Reporting on research at Harvard the Times reports: In a large, continuing study of upward mobility based at Harvard, commuting time has emerged as the single strongest factor in the odds of escaping poverty. The longer an average commute in […]
Upcoming education forum
I’m very much looking forward to participating in the “The Future of Michigan Education” forum on Wednesday, May 27 from 7 to 8:30 pm at the Ann Arbor District Library, 343 South Fifth Ave in downtown Ann Arbor. The forum is sponsored by Re:NEW Michigan. The event will focus on the skills young people will need […]
The case for college for all III
As we explored in our last post if we are serious about raising American living standards we need policies that address both increasing education attainment and that tilt the playing field in favor of employees rather than employers. The chart below is more evidence of why both are needed. It depicts real median wages by […]
The case for college for all II
Insightful Jared Bernstein post on the David Leonhardt’s “College for the Masses” column. (Bernstein is a Senior Fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.) Bernstein generally agrees with Leonhardt’s central point that a four year degree or more is the best path to economic well being for all, not just children of the […]
The case for college for all
I considered making this a one sentence post. Read this David Leonhardt article for the New York Times entitled College for the Masses. Its a must read. So if you have limited time, read the Leonhardt article rather than what follows. Leonhardt makes the best case I have read for why the goal of education […]
Autos and Michigan prosperity
For most of the 20th Century Michigan was one of the nation’s most prosperous states. Largely because the auto industry employed hundreds of thousands at high wages. Anchored by blue collar factory workers. Michigan’s prosperity was highly correlated with how well the domestic auto industry––now the Detroit Three––was faring. When the Detroit Three did well, […]
The college completion challenge
A recent article in the Washington Monthly is subtitled “The problem is not college debt, it’s low graduation rates. Fix that, and you fix the economy.” Probably an exaggeration. But correct in both that college completion is important to reversing the decline in American living standards and far more of a challenge than too high […]
Education pays updated
You can find current data here. The Bureau of Labor Statistics each year publishes a chart that details the unemployment rate and median weekly earnings by education attainment for those 25 and older. The data for 2104 are below. New data from a year ago. But same story. Below is what I wrote […]
Liberal arts as an asset
Readers of this blog know that we believe that a broad education is the key to building the skills needed for successful/prosperous forty year careers. Largely because globalization and technology are constantly making obsolete––in unpredictable ways––jobs, occupations and industries. So successful people will be those who are able to constantly adjust to changes in labor […]