LANSING – Six core areas of growth are surging Michigan ahead of other states in terms of job growth, and they will continue to be key to a successful recovery, a report released Monday by Business Leaders for Michigan has found.
Engineering, supply chain and logistics, higher education, natural resources economy, technological innovations in mobility and the state’s access to life sciences technologies will continue to be areas of growth for the state, the report noted. And at $65,356 in average earnings, the six areas are almost 40 percent higher than their industry overall.
“We are seeing excellent progress in these New Michigan opportunity areas; in fact, they are growing jobs at twice the rate of the state as a whole,” said Doug Rothwell, BLM president and CEO, in a statement. “While we are seeing positive gains, it’s crucial to put an even greater focus on these areas. Properly leveraging our strongest assets will accelerate growth in our state, grow jobs and earnings and create an economy that is less susceptible to economic downturns.”
Rothwell said in 2012, more than 40 percent of all the jobs created in the state were in the aforementioned areas. This year’s report shows continuing progress in all of those areas as well, with particular advancement in engineering, mobility, higher education and supply chain and logics sectors.
“By competing as a top ten state in each of these areas through 2022 – which we believe our strong base of entrepreneurism, innovation, and manufacturing will allow us to do – we have the potential to increase Michigan’s total economic output by $31 billion per year and add up to 220,000 jobs,” Rothwell said.
Specifically, Michigan continues to rank in the top U.S. states for engineering graduates, patents awarded, and number of engineers per capita. The state is also ranked in the nation’s Top Ten for total degrees awarded, total enrollment, and STEM degrees awarded, the report noted.
“If state-level appropriations can increase, along with out-of-state enrollment, Michigan can further capitalize on this strong economic driver,” the report said of the higher education sector.
The state’s automotive history also offers a strong base for developing next-generation vehicles and multi-modal sustainable transportation, the report indicated. During 2013, the state developed new government structures and plans for supporting its mobility sector, making future growth even more likely.
Also during 2013, the state attracted more than $70 million in venture capital investment to support new life sciences technologies, and ranked in the Top Ten for the number of clinical biopharmaceutical trials.
This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com
