#505. Michigan’s Comeback by the Numbers

Michigan’s Comeback by the Numbers

Last week we shared with our readers information about the Southern Automotive Conference (SAC) held in Birmingham, Alabama. The participating states in the SAC are Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina. There are many positive things happening in the south and southeastern United States in terms of manufacturing jobs, especially in the automotive industry. But that is not the only region of the country that is seeing positive growth.

A recent posting by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, outlined a number of positive economic gains in the state, including the following:

# 2 – Michigan’s rank among states for greatest drop in workers’ comp rates. Only Montana beats
Michigan in this achievement.

6.5   Percent decrease in workers’ comp premiums that takes effect Jan. 1, 2015

7.2   Percent unemployment rate for September, state’s lowest since March 2008.

14.2 Percent unemployed in June 2009, almost exactly double the September rate.

27.7 Percentage decline in Michigan workers’ compensation premium rates since 2011.

128,800 Number of manufacturing jobs added to Michigan’s economy since 2009.

278,800 Number of jobs added to Michigan’s economy since 2009.

In the late 2000’s we had pretty much written Michigan off as a place that we wanted to invest in, due to their severe economic problems.  It is amazing to us how quickly they have turned things around.  Good policy changes and good government CAN have a big impact.  We have made a couple of investments there in the last two years and hope to add to our investment there.  Way to go Michigan!