One area in which the conventional wisdom about small business holds is in benefits. Workers at smaller firms earn less in wages, get fewer paid days off and receive less generous health insurance benefits than their counterparts at large companies. The compensation gap is huge between businesses that employ between one and 49 workers, and […]
Big firms still offer employees better pay, benefit deals than smallest firms
Posted inBusiness Watch
Michigan workers more likely to work for big business — then and now
Michigan has a long-held reputation as a big-business state. But the number of large establishments in the state and the number of workers they employ have dropped significantly since the mid-1990s, according to statistics compiled by the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Edward Lowe Foundation in Cassopolis. The Lowe Foundation compiles statistics on small […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Metro Detroit bank, Traverse Bay winery navigate way to 2012 '50 to Watch' list
It isn’t surprising to see computer software, health care and Internet-based companies on a list of up-and-coming companies in Michigan. But a community bank? Wall Street’s meltdown in 2008 wiped out hundreds of banks across the country, including 13 mostly small local banks in Michigan. The banking climate was so bad in Michigan that the […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Almost all in 2006 '50 Companies to Watch' still in business
Strathmore Development Co., an East Lansing-based commercial and residential developer, was named to the “Michigan 50 Companies to Watch” list in 2006. Times were good, but Strathmore and many other promising companies on that list were about to experience the challenge of their young lives as the U.S. economy nosedived just a year later. “The […]
Posted inPeter Luke: Eye on the Capitol
Republicans play to win; Democrats play to pout
In 1983, Michigan Republicans secured a two-seat majority in the state Senate thanks to the recall of two Democratic senators from southeastern Michigan. They’ve been running the Michigan Senate ever since. After the 2008 elections, Michigan Democrats had assembled a 20-seat margin in the Michigan House, thanks to the second of two successive national wave […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest column: What do pizza guy, chemistry guy and office furniture guy have in common?
By Doug Rothwell/Business Leaders for Michigan The pizza guy, the office furniture guy, the chemistry guy … they have more in common than you know. The leaders of Michigan’s Domino’s Pizza, Steelcase and Dow are coming together to talk about higher education. Their conversation is urgent and critical, because they all are challenged with finding […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“We do not need to be shoemakers to know if our shoes fit, and just as little have we any need to be professionals to acquire knowledge of matters of universal interest” — Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, 19th century German philosopher. * Fascinating essay that weaves through the motivations of a young Henry Ford to […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Ready for college? In Michigan, likely not.
If you live in Michigan, your high-schooler is probably less prepared for college than the average American student. Your teen has only an average chance of graduating from high school, and a below-average chance of enrolling in college. And if your son or daughter makes it to campus, he or she is less likely to […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Michigan's 'Faltering 40' on college prep
If you want your son or daughter to succeed in college, there are 40 public school districts you may want to avoid. In an analysis by Bridge Magazine and Public Sector Consultants, these 40 districts, spread across the state and ranging from urban to rural, scored in the bottom rungs of four different college-readiness measures. […]
Posted inTalent & Education
A decade of slipping: Michigan's students fall behind
Michigan is falling behind other states in preparing its teenagers for college, a trend that could hobble the state’s efforts to revitalize its economy. The percentage of Michigan high school graduates going to college has been inching upward, from 57.5 percent in 1992 to 59.4 percent in 2008, according to the National Center for Higher […]