Michigan Needs Immigration Reform

According to Lumina Foundation, Michigan is facing a talent shortage of over 900,000 workers with more than a high school degree by 2025. A failure to produce this number of educated workers will risk MI's ability to grow jobs and incomes as our businesses struggle to find talent.  We cannot produce enough talent to meet projected needs by increasing in-state enrollments alone.  To produce a dynamic and skilled labor force, and enable MI businesses to compete effectively in the global marketplace --we need immigration reform.  The absence of an immigration reform policy has hurt our economy by making it harder for our companies to find the talent they need to grow and create more jobs right here in Michigan. 

Michigan needs to welcome innovators, entrepreneurs and skilled workers from around the world. They can help our core industries continue to drive MI's comeback, and help our nation remain an economic superpower.  Consider this: immigrants or the children of immigrants founded 40 percent of U.S. Fortune 500 companies. Across America, these companies employed about 560,000 workers and generated $63 billion in sales in 2012. The evidence is compelling that when we educate foreign students they want to stay and will create jobs here. But faced with a shortage of temporary high-skilled visas and six- to 10-year waits for employment-based green cards, foreign graduates of U.S. universities are taking their talents elsewhere. Our system today prevents many foreign-born scientists, engineers and other highly educated professionals from working in the United States. 

Business Leaders for Michigan supports immigration reform: We believe that MI would benefit by welcoming those who would come here legally to work and contribute to our economy.  You can help by letting your U.S. Representative and Senators Levin and Stabenow know that you support immigration reform.

World-Class Standards for Michigan Learners

This year, Michigan public schools began using the kind of high-quality content standards that our kids need to be competitive in the 21st century.  Used by 45 states, the Common Core State Standards specify what kids should be able to know and do at every grade level in reading, math and science, so they can be ready to advance when they graduate no matter whether they enter the workforce or continue their education.

We all want our children to succeed and for our state to flourish.  The fact is that good paying jobs are increasingly requiring more education and the jobs will go where educated workers can be found. Michigan needs the Common Core. The standards have been carefully researched and developed to ensure their rigor and relevance in a 21st-century knowledge economy.  After decades of shrinking incomes and population, Michigan is starting to rebound. To make our recovery permanent, we need to make sure our children have the knowledge and skills that employers need. 

With the Common Core in place, teachers and schools have a reliable yardstick for determining whether their learners are on track to keep pace with their peers across the globe. Michigan still gets to decide the curricula that should be taught and teachers get to decide how to teach.

The Common Core is essential to make sure every graduate in Michigan has been well prepared for the world of tomorrow. Business Leaders for Michigan joins with education leaders, research and advocacy groups like the Business Round Table, Detroit Regional Chamber, Education Trust-Midwest, and many others to support full and continuing implementation of the Common Core.

Our goal is to make Michigan a Top Ten state for job, economic and personal income growth. Whether it’s in traditional Michigan industry sectors like manufacturing and agriculture or growing ones like healthcare and technology, Michigan’s ability to grow economically will be driven by increases in productivity tied to talent and innovation – and our education system is a primary incubator of both. The Common Core State Standards will ensure that all Michigan kids have the academic knowledge and skills to succeed after high school and help create a bright economic future for Michigan.

Common Core is Right for Michigan

Now more than ever, Michigan's economic future is closely tied to the education of its workforce.  Good paying jobs increasingly require more education and the jobs will go where educated workers can be found. We have to make sure our children leave the 12th grade ready to advance with a solid foundation of education in reading, math and science no matter whether they choose to enter the workforce or continue their education. 

The Common Core State Standards offer a useful ruler for schools as they work to ensure students are career- and college- ready when they leave high school. The Common Core does not prevent schools or states from teaching in innovative, individualized ways. Michigan still gets to decide the curriculum that should be taught and teachers get to decide how to teach. It helps schools, students and parents know how our students are doing against what will be expected of them once they leave school and if they are keeping up with their peers.

Business Leaders for Michigan supports Common Core State Standards. We believe they will help ensure that all Michigan children have the skills to succeed after high school and have a bright economic future in Michigan.

Michigan's Future Talent Needs

Michigan's economy is changing rapidly. About one-half of all good paying jobs today require an education beyond high school and many require specialized skills in science, technology, engineering or math.

Within the next decade, Michigan will need 900,000 additional workers with at least a two-year college degree or certificate. Michigan employers are currently experiencing some difficulty finding talent with the right skills. Soon, the skills shortage will be compounded by not having enough well educated workers. 

The solution is to make sure more high school graduates are ready to enter a trade school, college or university; increase the number of college graduates and expand training programs that help workers constantly re-tool their skills.  Find out more about the Michigan workforce by reading our new BLM Insights report. 

Building a New Michigan

Led by a strong recovery in manufacturing and supported by policymakers' actions to responsibly manage our finances, balance the budget and improve the businessclimate, Michigan's economy is starting to turnaround. During the past two years, Michigan's job, economic and personal income growth was in the Top Ten. But to really become a Top Ten state, not just grow like one, we need to create a lot more high-paying jobs.  We recognize that creating a better place to grow jobs is important, but not enough to become an economic leader.  We must do more of what we do best - and do it far better than other places...to reach our Top Ten goal.

That's why we released our New Michigan strategy last year. It identified six Michigan assets that, if better leveraged, can create enough jobs over the decade to reach our Top Ten goal.  They include our engineering talent, automotive industry, natural resources, health & medical expertise, higher education system and geographic location.

This month, we'll hold our first annual New Michigan Summit to update stakeholder groups on the progress our state is making to leverage these assets and issue a report to help policymakers and the public understand where we stand and how much work remains.  A prosperous, thriving New Michigan is within our sights if we take better advantage of what makes our state so special.