Michigan is failing to attract young, skilled workers. We need a coordinated campaign, akin to Pure Michigan, that targets urban areas in states that are passing anti-women, anti-gay, pro-gun, anti-democratic legislation.
Kurt Metzger
Kurt Metzger is director emeritus of Data Driven Detroit, a nonprofit in Detroit established by foundations to build greater capacity for people to work together, and improve lives and communities affiliated with the Michigan Nonprofit Association. In 2013, he was elected mayor of Pleasant Ridge.
Posted inGuest Commentary
Opinion | The first step to social change is easy: fill out the census
Michigan cities need to increase census response rates, or risk losing political representation that can lead to change.
Posted inMichigan Government
Kurt Metzger | Finally, the U.S. Census is counting LGBTQ families
The U.S. Census Bureau is sometimes slow to reflect the changing nature of families, but this year’s count has made changes to better reflect the LGBTQ community.
Posted inGuest Commentary
Kurt Metzger | The Census is coming. Racial controversy is never far behind
The U.S. Census Bureau’s decision not to allow a category for Middle Eastern North African in this year’s count is the latest in a long history of controversies involving race.
Posted inGuest Commentary
In slowly growing Michigan, some interesting migration trends
Too many are leaving for the South and West, but among those who are arriving? Many are young and good earners.
Posted inGuest Commentary
The Great Lakes state, graying: Demographic reality hits Michigan
The graying of Michigan isn't confined to its northern counties. The whole state is aging, and simply isn't drawing the new residents it needs to keep its economy vigorous. A demographer asks whether we have the will to fix it.
Posted inBusiness Watch
Michigan still has a long climb back to prosperity
Governor Rick Snyder’s Michigan Dashboard and the Business Leaders for Michigan’s Economic Competitiveness Benchmarking Report both look at a wide range of factors to measure progress in our state. I want to look at the two big ‘elephants in the room” – income and educational attainment. We’re hurting in both respects. The climb back to […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
In migration, New Jersey giveth to Michigan, and Florida taketh away
Welcome to Michigan… Donor state Incoming population Maine +145 Louisiana +204 Oregon +241 Wyoming +312 Massachusetts +383 New York +540 Alaska +589 New Mexico +716 Wisconsin +851 New Jersey +1,293 Source: U.S. Census Bureau While the Internal Revenue Service works to fix the problems with their 2010-2011 state-to-state migration data files, the Census Bureau has […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Iraqi immigrants flow into Michigan, but state lags in attracting new residents
While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has yet to issue their 2012 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, they have just released 2012 tables on the number of persons obtaining legal permanent resident status (also known as “green card” holders) by state and major metropolitan area. Immigrant numbers dropped by 2.9 percent nationally, from 1,062,040 in […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Black males in Michigan die at an alarming rate
CLICK to enlarge While Michigan may be aging faster than any other state, our overall death numbers are not growing. Provisional death totals for 2011, just released by Michigan’s Department of Community Health, show that the total number of deaths in Michigan fell by 313 between 2010 and 2011. If we were to look at […]