Reports
Michigan Future Inc. has been providing high quality research publications to inform Michigan policymakers and the general public for over ten years. Our research focuses on helping Michigan succeed in the a knowledge-based economy and has themes that relate to the Michigan Economy, Attracting and Retaining Talent, and Preparing Talent.
May 2009
Michigan’s Transition To A Knowledge-Based Economy
2nd Annual Progress Report
The annual progress report from the 2006 “New Agenda for a New Michigan Report” that focuses on Michigan’s transition into a knowledge-based economy. This report covers the picture of the national economic expansion from 2001 to 2007 and the results show that trends impacting Michigan are accelerating. In particular, low education attainment industries have suffered the greatest job losses while high education attainment industries have added jobs. The progress report further reinforces the need to increase the concentration of educated talent and the reality that the Michigan prosperity of the past of good paying low skill jobs is no longer a viable path.
Full Report, Executive Summary, Presentation, Appendix A, Appendix B
August 2008
Michigan College Graduate Survey
Presentation of results of an internet survey of 2007 graduates from Michigan’s fifteen public universities on where they decided to live and work after college and why. Of all respondents about 40% left the state, of young, mobile college graduates about half left. More to Chicago than any other state. About half said that they decided on where they wanted to live first, then looked for a job
College grad survey Mi Future Aug 08
July 2008
Young Talent In The Great Lakes: How Michigan Is Faring
A follow-up report to the New Agenda for a New Michigan report to identify where young professionals are concentrating in the Great Lakes, with a focus on young college graduates – they are the most mobile and since talent becomes less mobile with age, the most critical to attract. The report finds that young professionals are concentrating in metros all over the country however that Michigan metros (Detroit and Grand Rapids) have fewer young professionals proportionally than in Chicago or Minneapolis. In fact, metro Detroit would need an additional 140,000 young professionals and Grand Rapids an additional 35,000 to be proportionally comparable. Lansing also lags behind Madison. The report further reinforces the importance of having a prosperous central cities if we want to have a prosperous Michigan.
May 2008
Encouraging the Revitalization of Downtown Detroit: Attracting the Millennial Knowledge Worker
In collaboration with a University of Michigan MBA Map Project Team, this report provides recommendations for how Detroit can become a more attractive place to live for young talent. Using focus groups, field research, in-depth interviews, surveys, and third party research, the project team identified the specific housing characteristics and neighborhood attributes that appeal to the Millennial Knowledge Workers. The report pays particular attention to successful areas within Chicago and then provides an analysis of the current state in Detroit and recommendations for improvement. Among the findings, the report shows that Millennial Knowledge Workers have a strong preference for urban walkability, value neighborhood amenities more than housing amenities, and want variety, density, and opportunities to socialize. The report also finds that Detroit suffers key perception challenges, in particular with crime, and these perceptions are often misperceptions. The key recommendations include creating critical mass in non-chain dining and retail, increase lighting and enforce noise abatement laws to create feelings of safety, improve delivery of public services in particular for small businesses, promote a message of hope and opportunity, and leverage existing assets such as the music scence, architecture, and cultural areas.
January 2008
Michigan’s Transition To A Knowledge-Based Economy
1st Annual Report
The annual progress report from the 2006 “New Agenda for a New Michigan Report” that focuses on Michigan’s transition into a knowledge-based economy. Following an unprecedented seven years of consecutive job losses, Michigan is now moving towards the bottom of national rankings in both employment and per capita income. In this report, we found that states with the highest per capita income are overconcentrated in knowledge-based industries and have a higher proportion of adults with a four year degree or more. Even more, the most successful states have a big metropolitan area with a higher per capita income and higher portion of residents with a four year degree than their state.
Full Report, Appendix A, Appendix B
July 2006
A New Agenda for a New Michigan
Michigan has declined for 6 straight years in employment (2000-2006), even during three years of an upturn, and is below the national average now in per capita income. The key cause is that Michigan has been slow to adapt to a rapidly changing global economy and the path forward will require concentrating in knowledge-based enterprises that are seeing the fastest growth and the highest pay. To do this, Michigan Future Inc. recommends building a culture that is aligned with a flat world that values learning, entrepreneurship, and diversity. It means investing in higher education first and foremost with recommendations to give autonomy to public institutions of higher learning, match federal research dollars with state funding, and fund students rather than institutions. It will also requires an ability to attract talent, which means building regions that are attractive places to live and have vibrant central city neighborhoods and right level of infrastructure (which now means advanced connections to internet, international airports, and green infrastructure). The path forward also includes an increased focus on attracting export-based business investment, aligning k-12 education with a knowledge-driven economy, and having strong civic, business, and political leadership.
Feb 2004
A New Path To Prosperity?
Manufacturing and Knowledge-based Industries as Drivers of Economic Growth
The steep decline in manufacturing jobs is viewed with greater concern than job losses in other industries on the belief that it is an irreplaceable mass pathway to the middle class and a driver of economic growth. This reports looks at the validity of these concerns – are other industries providing pathways to middle class jobs and are manufacturing concentrations correlated with strong state economies and if not, what industries are powering the most prosperous states. The report compares manufacturing, as defined by the nation’s new industrial classification system, as work done in factories, to knowledge-based industries at the state level and finds that these concerns do not hold. In fact, almost across the board, states with a higher concentration of manufacturing have below average income per capita and states with higher concentrations of knowledge-based jobs are above average.
March 2003
Revitalizing Michigan’s Central Cities: A Vision and Framework For Action
A collection of experienced and insightful urban practitioners and policy analysts came together to make the case that central cities are important to Michigan’s future and offer a framework for action. The report argues that central cities are important because they connect people to opportunity, attractive the creative class, serve as historical and cultural centers, and are the place where society confronts and reduces poverty. The report reviews challenges that Michigan faces in creating vibrant central cities and offers an agenda, with policy recommendations, based on the following 4 commitments: a commitment to be welcoming to all, a commitment to provide quality public services, a commitment to be development friendly, and a commitment to deconcentrate poverty.
Dec 2002
Michigan Workers in the Boom Years: Employment and Employment Earnings 1991-2000
From 1991 to 2002, the Michigan economy boomed, along with but at a greater pace, than the national economy. The aim of this report to review the data from this period to identify trends that are likely to be influential in the future. The report looks at population growth by age as a determinant of labor pool size, growth in the labor force, the proportion of full-time/part-time workers, employment earnings by education, employment by industry, and employment by occupation. The report finds that structural labor shortages due to an aging population with slow population growth are likely to be the rule rather than the exception going forward. In addition, the report finds that during boom times those with the highest education saw the greatest increase in wages and the economy is being increasingly focused on offices, schools, and hospitals. The automotive industry still matters for Michigan as do low age industries that account for nearly 1/3 of Michigan workers.
Dec 1999
Pathways to Good-Paying Careers
How young adults obtain good-paying jobs without four-year degrees
The key goal of this report is to identify pathways for people to attain good paying jobs without a four-year degree. Using focus groups and telephone surveys for individuals without a college degree who were making above $30K per year (both in inner city Detroit and Metro Detroit), the study focuses on the types of jobs, how they were discovered, and the skills and training needed for them. The reports finds that for this population the career path is ad-hoc (think rock climbing) rather than a linear well-defined job ladder. It also shows a greater diversity of pathways – technical training programs and unionization were minority pathways. The skills needed for the job were mostly learned on the job and the real skill is in having perseverance and resourcefulness to find promotion opportunities and get the skills for that promotion on your own. The report recommends a career preparation system based on how people are actually succeeded (how to be successful in an ad hoc career path) and that is more employer centered (since that is where they learn the skills) than institution centered. It also questions the strategy for technical training programs, but still encourages them when people are ready for them, which tends to be in their 20s after they have decided not to pursue a four-year degree rather than in high school.
November 1998
Connecting the Urban Poor to Work: A Framework and Strategy for Action
Michigan’s economy is booming with record low unemployment, income is rising for the first time in two decades, and employers have trouble finding qualified people in the war for talent. But, despite this climate of economic vibrance, unemployment remains high in urban Michigan. This report is designed to develop workable policies that lead to economic self-sufficiency for urban poor through helping urban adults find work. The study finds that just because the economy is providing increasing opportunities it does not mean the urban poor are able to connect to them. The path to economic self-sufficiency is through the regional (rather than local) labor market and having the skills to compete for jobs at the regional level. A key barrier to acquisition of skills are the effects of concentrated poverty. The recommended policy interventions include deconcentrating poverty, enhancing early childhood development, transforming urban K-12, reducing economic segregation in housing and schooling, and investing in training for the chronically unemployed.
• Copyright 2009 • Twitter: #michiganfuture