Michigan Population Stagnant; Young professionals continue to leave; How can we revive/diversify our ecomony (Detroit: sales, 2015)

[usroute10]

Crain's Detroit Article:

Young talent continues to flee Michigan - Crain's Detroit Business

"It's not as if Sarah Noffze dislikes Michigan.

After all, she grew up in suburban Detroit, went to Michigan State University and served on the homecoming court. She remains loyal to her beloved Sparty.

But as she neared graduation in 2014, the marketing major set her sights on a job elsewhere.

“My original goal was to move someplace warmer. I was thinking maybe California,” recalled Noffze, 22.

But in early 2015, Noffze landed a job at Hormel Foods in Minneapolis, where she is now a regional retail sales manager. She gets the irony.

“Hormel ended up offering me a full-time job,” she said. “I couldn't turn down the offer.”

And now? She doesn't mind the cold — while growing to appreciate the array of diversions that Minneapolis offers.

“There's always lots of things to do ‒ beer fests, a Shania Twain concert, Christmas parades. There's lots of young people living here, which is very attractive to me. There's actually lots of people from Michigan and Michigan State here.”"

WHAT ARE WE (MICHIGAN/DETROIT AREA) DOING TO DIVERSIFY OUR ECONOMY?

HOW CAN WE DIVERSIFY OUR ECONOMY AND MAKE IT MORE DYNAMIC?

HOW CAN WE ATTRACT YOUNG PROFESSIONALS?

The article quotes, Doug Rothwell, president and CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan. He proposed the following to diversify/strengthen the economy:

“We believe the best long-term solution is to grow more good jobs in growth industries and to boost college enrollments. There is no better tool than good-paying jobs in growing industries for attracting people to come here for work and attracting more students to go to school here in Michigan.”

*****************************************

-One staggering statistic that this article highlighted, THAT blew me away, was the % of Detroit's population with a college degree in comparison to Grand Rapids and Minneapolis. 15.9% of Detroit's population has a degree compared with 40% for Grand Rapids and 56% for Minneapolis. THAT'S JUST BAD.

-The lack of population growth is going to result in Michigan losing another congressional seat, down to 13. As late as the '70s, Michigan had 19 congressional seats, so we are losing political clout.

[belleislerunner]

Everything is perspective - you can see this as a continuation of a decline, that is slowing or you can focus on the growth of Michigan over three years - first time ever. If anything - this should be a wake up call to open up the floodgate for mass immigration here.

The author chose to focus on a negative perspective instead of the positive. There will always be debby downers. It doesn't mean you have to associate with them.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

One issue is the VC community is poorly developed.

The automotive sector traditionally shunned that type of financing and from the middle of last century until Tesla there were no real start ups in that sector. Maybe now that Tesla and a few others have demonstrated the possibility there might be interest in automotive start ups in SE MI and hence more of a VC market.

Outside of automotive sadly the prevalence of start ups is nothing like what it was during the golden age (1960s and 70s) in SE MI.

Of course this is a bit chicken and egg - no VCs means not too many start ups and not too many start ups means meager VCs.

[DTWflyer]

Like was earlier mentioned these types of stories are still true and will always be true as young people will always be mobile in search of employment, jobs, or a new challenge.

Its a lot better than it was but there are only so many things that can be done.

One issue that I see that bothers me a lot is the amount of entry-level positions that used to be filled by recent college grads that instead are being off-shored or pushed to contract positions. It used to be these jobs were good for someone starting out to get experience, learn how the company did business, and move upward. Instead these go to contract employees, often times H1Bs or to people that are at different point in their career. Employers then wonder why they have talent gaps, can't find people, as they've done nothing themselves to help grow people for tomorrow.

[Retroit]

Good. Less competition for jobs for those that stay. Less congestion. Less overdevelopment. Less strain on the infrastructure. Let other cities deal with traffic jams, water shortages, smog, sprawl, etc.

[usroute10]

Originally Posted by DTWflyer

One issue that I see that bothers me a lot is the amount of entry-level positions that used to be filled by recent college grads that instead are being off-shored or pushed to contract positions. It used to be these jobs were good for someone starting out to get experience, learn how the company did business, and move upward. Instead these go to contract employees, often times H1Bs or to people that are at different point in their career. Employers then wonder why they have talent gaps, can't find people, as they've done nothing themselves to help grow people for tomorrow.

Wow, I had no idea this was happening. In which fields do you see this kind of thing occuring? What a disgrace!!

[tuebor]

Originally Posted by belleislerunner

Everything is perspective - you can see this as a continuation of a decline, that is slowing or you can focus on the growth of Michigan over three years - first time ever. If anything - this should be a wake up call to open up the floodgate for mass immigration here.

The author chose to focus on a negative perspective instead of the positive. There will always be debby downers. It doesn't mean you have to associate with them.

[emphasis added]

Agreed. That would be a relatively easy way to replace our lost population, and many of the Syrian refugees are educated.

[usroute10]

I wish one day this type of announcement could be the headlines of the News or Free Press


Oracle to build massive campus in SE Austin

How would we able to attract the large amount of tech jobs that places like Austin, Seattle, and the Bay Area are drawing to them? Lower taxes? A shift in our state universities to focus more on STEM majors and research?

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

Originally Posted by DTWflyer

Like was earlier mentioned these types of stories are still true and will always be true as young people will always be mobile in search of employment, jobs, or a new challenge.

Its a lot better than it was but there are only so many things that can be done.

One issue that I see that bothers me a lot is the amount of entry-level positions that used to be filled by recent college grads that instead are being off-shored or pushed to contract positions. It used to be these jobs were good for someone starting out to get experience, learn how the company did business, and move upward. Instead these go to contract employees, often times H1Bs or to people that are at different point in their career. Employers then wonder why they have talent gaps, can't find people, as they've done nothing themselves to help grow people for tomorrow.

I agree. The entry-level position I had 15 years ago no longer exists, and many more went with it.

Of course this isn't unique to Michigan, but it is certainly a problem.

[keraT]

Originally Posted by Retroit

Good. Less competition for jobs for those that stay. Less congestion. Less overdevelopment. Less strain on the infrastructure. Let other cities deal with traffic jams, water shortages, smog, sprawl, etc.

I had the same feeling. Those who stay in Michigan and manage to get themselves in a semi-decent job tend to do much better here than other cities.