For those of you looking for something to read, other than about the coronavirus, here is a list of books about the economy and education that have been the most helpful in our understanding of the realities of how people…
Month after month, year after year, there are four most-read blogs. All have in common an exploration of the skills and occupations that are most rewarded in today's labor market. That those skills are not occupation specific, but rather broader…
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…
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…
I recently gave a speech at the Michigan Works Annual Conference on the future of work. It explores how the nature of work is likely to change largely because of automation. You can read the speech here. The speech does…
We first wrote about welders in 2013. Its a topic we keep coming back to, most recently in a 2018 post entitled What skilled trades job actually pay. The reason why we keep writing about welders is they have become…
All of a sudden there is lots being written about the trend of employers hiring generalists more than specialists. What is so disturbing is the disconnect between this reality and way too many policymakers pushing our education and training providers…
Two highly recommended recent New York Times articles on how technology is destroying good-paying jobs and careers. The first, written by Kevin Roose, is entitled The hidden agenda of the Davos elites. The second, written by Eduardo Porter, is entitled…
We continue to be constantly barraged with messages that for many not pursuing a four-year degree is the best course of action. Some version of if you don't get a BA in a STEM field you are at high risk…
Three New York Times articles lay out the new reality that having a low unemployment rate does not mean that American households are doing well economically. In fact today's reality is that increasingly the two are disconnected. Lots of people…