Gov. Rick Snyder campaigned for the state’s top elected office in 2010 with a promise to “reinvent” Michigan. The Center for Michigan’s 2012 Michigan Scorecard, compiled in partnership with Data Driven Detroit, shows there’s still plenty of reinventing to do. Although Michigan’s economy has performed a U-turn from a decade of job losses, most other […]
Michigan Scorecard
Posted inBusiness Watch
State's exports lift economy as they leave
One of the biggest — and largely unheralded — signs of Michigan’s economic recovery is the state’s impressive jump in exports. The 2012 Michigan Scorecard ranked exporting as “good,” up from “average” in 2010. But the state’s performance in selling Michigan-made goods around the world has improved even more since the 2012 Scorecard data was […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Poverty rises even as economy turns
One trend belies the notion that a rising economy lifts all boats: Michigan’s growing poverty rate. Michigan’s economy bottomed out near the end of 2009, and employment and incomes have been creeping upward ever since. But so has poverty. The share of Michigan residents living in poverty jumped from 13.5 percent in 2009 to 16.8 percent […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Michigan's air cleaner, but watch out for carp and friends
Michigan may be best known as the home of the domestic auto industry, but state officials are focusing more on creating a wider public image, focusing on the spectacular natural world found so near the auto assembly lines. The state’s highly successful Pure Michigan tourism advertising campaign showcases many of them, including the Great Lakes, […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Rusty and rutted, infrastructure holds state back
While Michigan’s roads and bridges crumble, lawmakers in Lansing dither. “Our infrastructure is in terrible shape,” said Michael Nystrom, executive vice president of the Michigan Infrastructure & Transportation Association, a trade group. “There is a unanimous recognition of the need among elected officials,” he added. “But no one can really figure out where we go […]