BUSINESS LEADERS FORECAST: MICHIGAN WILL GROW FASTER THAN U.S. ECONOMY

Most of state’s largest job providers add jobs in 2012; Plan more hiring in 2013

DETROIT, Mich., February 5, 2013 – Business Leaders for Michigan (BLM), the state’s business roundtable, continues to forecast that Michigan’s economy will grow more than the U.S. economy over the next six to eighteen months.  The forecast is reinforced by 60 percent of BLM members planning to increase hiring in Michigan in just the next six months.  Nearly-two thirds added jobs in Michigan last year.    

“The avoidance of the fiscal cliff and slow, but steady domestic growth has boosted the overall economic outlook of Michigan’s largest job providers.  But they remain far more optimistic about Michigan vs. the nation’s economy by the largest margins we have seen since we started conducting these surveys in 2009,” said Doug Rothwell, President & CEO.  “The optimism of the state’s largest job providers for Michigan is based on progress made stabilizing the state’s finances, addressing long-term debt and structural budget deficits and improving the costs of doing business here.  These are the same issues they feel are not being addressed in Washington and are holding the national economy back from full recovery.  They demonstrated that optimism by adding jobs in Michigan last year and planning more this year.  Michigan is not an island and will be affected by slower national growth, but BLM members continue to believe we will out-perform the American economy over the next eighteen months.”

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4Q ECONOMIC OUTLOOK SURVEY: More optimistic about long-term outlook for both U.S. and Michigan

DETROIT, Mich., January 17, 2012 – A survey of Business Leaders for Michigan (BLM), the state’s business roundtable, shows that the state’s largest employers are increasingly optimistic about Michigan’s short and long-term economic outlook.  “Michigan’s largest job providers are getting downright bullish on the state’s economic prospects and backing it up with increased hiring and investment,” said Doug Rothwell, President & CEO.  “Business leader optimism about the state’s long-term economy is at a three year high and nearly a third of the largest job providers are planning increased hiring and investment in the next six months.”

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Regional Partners Advance Strategic Economic Outcomes in Greater Detroit

Report on Road to Renaissance Showcases Areas of Success and Leadership

DETROIT, Mich., December 12, 2011 — Business Leaders for Michigan, the state’s business roundtable, issued the last in a series of progress reports on the Road to Renaissance, a pioneering, comprehensive movement geared at engineering economic growth and development in the Detroit region.  

First launched in 2006, the Road to Renaissance initiative used input from hundreds of civic and business leaders to devise a strategy for accelerating regional economic growth.

“This effort has had stunning levels of involvement, complexity and reach,” said Doug Rothwell President & CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan. “More than $100 million was raised to support the activities of Road to Renaissance, and countless hours, people and significant amounts of energy were dedicated to growing our economy in Greater Detroit.”

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Download the Road to Renaissance Report

Michigan makes huge strides in 2011

Column by Doug Rothwell, President and CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan and Phil Power, the Founder and President of The Center for Michigan 

Michigan has much to be thankful for as this year comes to a close: Better managed state and local government, a brighter economic outlook and more efficient delivery of public services. Our state’s turnaround has begun, but in many ways the hardest work still lies ahead.

A year ago, our two organizations held a summit, “Common Sense Reforms for a New Michigan” in Lansing. We drew nearly 400 people, including newly elected Gov. Rick Snyder and many legislative leaders for a discussion of structural changes we felt were needed to turn around Michigan and put us firmly on the path to prosperity.

The summit resulted in recommendations to improve state and local government efficiency, business climate and quality of life in our state.  We also pledged to report on progress one year later — hence this column. There is much progress to report.

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CEOs to Strategize about Michigan’s Economic Future

First-Ever Michigan CEO Summit Scheduled for March 2012

DETROIT, Mich., November 30, 2011 — In an event, to be hosted by Business Leaders for Michigan (BLM), Michigan’s top executives will come together to share strategies for building the state’s economic future on March 15, 2012 at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit.

“Through this dialogue, we can heighten awareness of the steps that Michigan needs to take to continue its turnaround,” said Doug Rothwell, President and CEO, Business Leaders for Michigan. “We’ll be hearing strategies for achieving success at the local, state and global levels, and looking for new ways to innovate, invest, and accelerate Michigan’s economic growth.”

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Click here to register for the Michigan CEO Summit!