LANSING – Michigan’s overall business climate has improved markedly, and the state still continues to improve at a rate faster than others, but national business leaders still do not have good perceptions of the state, contends a report issued Wednesday by the group Business Leaders for Michigan.

The state now ranks in the top 10 among all states in seven different categories out of 22 listed, the report said.

And since 2009, the state has improved in 14 different categories, the report said.

But national business climate rankings, which tend to show Michigan still in the bottom 10 of all states, do not reflect the changes the state has made, the report said.

And the report said the state still ranks in the bottom 10 overall in terms of the costs of doing business. Even that has improved slightly, but the state’s overall business costs are still higher than the national average, even though energy costs are slightly lower and local and state government costs are lower than the national average.

But with the dramatic change in the state’s business tax enacted in 2011, it has gone from having the second-worst business tax climate in the U.S., to the seventh best.

Overall, the report said, Michigan is growing faster than most states since the end of the Great Recession. Private sector employment, for example, grew at the sixth-fastest rate in the country in 2011-12, the report said. And per capita income growth was almost twice as much as the average in top 10 states, the report said, though per capita income still lags behind those states.

In fact, the report said, Michigan’s per capita income is $6,000 less than the national average.

The report also raised concerns about training for future workforces, saying fourth grade scores are slightly behind scores in Michigan’s peer states and 8th grade mathematics scores are in the bottom half of the nation.

The state also ranks 37th in terms of its high school graduates being college or career ready, the report said. The state also lags top 10 states in terms of the number of college degrees it confers annually.

The report also said the state lags others in terms of incentives.

Despite some of the gloomy statistics, the report remained overall optimistic.

And it said it would not recommend policy initiatives for state officials, but point out where the state stands in terms of Michigan being one of the top 10 states for business. The organization has said helping Michigan become a top 10 state for business is one of its primary goals.

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