Phil Gardner is the director of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University. For the past 23 years, he has overseen MSU’s annual college labor market study, a much-watched barometer of the job market for college graduates and the health of the overall labor market. Gardner spoke with Bridge correspondent Rick Haglund about […]
Business Watch
Covering the intersection of business and policy, and informing Michigan employers and workers on the long road back from coronavirus. Our Michigan Economic Dashboard shows key metrics that show how the state is performing.
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Do you live in a ‘magnet’ or ‘bedroom’ community?
Job commuting patterns are analyzed after every census in order for the federal Office of Management and Budget to determine the naming and composition of metropolitan and micropolitan areas. While the data have resulted in a number of changes to Michigan’s metropolitan/micropolitan landscape, the individual county flows are of particular relevance in that they help […]
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Is shortage due to skills or wages?
Steve Lowe Jr. is scrambling to find more than a dozen skilled machinists, experienced engineers and laborers after his company recently won a multimillion-dollar contract to build giant camshafts for diesel locomotive engines. He said he’s sought out state work force agencies, local community colleges and employment agencies in seeking the workers he needs to […]
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Average Michigan wage earner is $5,000 behind other Americans
When politicians talk about Michigan’s “lost decade” of the 2000s, they usually focus on the huge number of jobs shed by the state. Michigan lost 863,300 payroll jobs between April 2000 and July 2009, at the bottom of the state’s downturn, or nearly one out of every five jobs. But a less-discussed element of that […]
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Jackson businesses try DIY job-training to create skilled workers
DIY EMPLOYMENT: Welding students practice at the Jackson Academy for Manufacturing Careers, a job-training center started by manufacturers to fill a training gap left by cutbacks in public programs. Welders are in high demand right now and can earn $25 an hour. (courtesy photo/used under Creative Commons license) After voters turned down a millage request […]
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State again riding auto upswing
Nearly given up for dead a few years ago, Michigan’s automakers have come roaring back and are leading one of the strongest state economic recoveries in the nation. Today, General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC are churning out billions of dollars in profits and are hiring thousands of workers. But we’ve seen […]
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Is ‘reshoring’ boosting Michigan’s economy?
Michigan Ladder Co., a 111-year-old Ypsilanti business that assembles wood and fiberglass ladders for the industrial market, used to buy its fiberglass ladders from suppliers in China. But the company recently decided getting ladders from suppliers that were thousands of miles away didn’t make financial sense. So, it began assembling its own fiberglass ladders in […]
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What’s up, who’s down in state economy?
While the Holland area may be better known to outsiders for its Dutch heritage and pristine Lake Michigan beaches, the locals know its economy is driven by manufacturing. The area suffered as manufacturing output fell by a third during the Great Recession. Unemployment exceeded 13 percent. But a strong rebound by auto suppliers, office furniture […]
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Mapping Michigan’s growth in 2011
While Michigan has 83 counties and hundreds upon hundreds of communities, when it comes to economics, the only number that really matters is 14. That figure represents the “metropolitan statistical areas” defined by the federal government as cohesive economic units. Those 14 places – sometimes a single county, sometimes multiple counties – account for nearly […]
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How did your city’s economy do in 2011?
PICTURE OF PROGRESS: Downtown Grand Rapids and the rest of the Grand Rapids-Wyoming MSA posted a 2.3 percent growth rate in 2011, matching the statewide figure. (Bridge archive photo) The Holland-Grand Haven area had the best 2011 when it came to economic growth in 2011 – at least as it compared to 2010. Still, though, […]
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