Business Leaders for Michigan, a Detroit-based nonprofit business organization, released its updated benchmarking report comparing Michigan’s performance against the top 10 states, showing that the state has not stayed competitive enough to maintain its position in the rankings.
Business Leaders’ benchmark metrics are designed to provide a holistic view of how well all Michiganders are succeeding by measuring GDP per capita, median household income, business climate perception, education, labor force participation, net migration, poverty, and business creation.
Based on these indicators, Michigan showed improvement in per capita GDP, moving up one rank; median household income, moving up one rank; poverty, up one rank; and labor force participation, moving up two ranks.
Other states grew faster, however, causing the state to slip from 29 to 31 nationally. This still is a significant improvement from the state’s position in 2009, when it was ranked 49. Many states experienced substantial shifts in rankings this past year, with Idaho, Tennessee, and New Hampshire ascending into the top ten and Ohio jumping 10 spots to 23rd nationally, leapfrogging Michigan.
“We’ve seen significant progress in Michigan’s rankings over the last decade, but as these numbers show, our competitors aren’t waiting for Michigan to catch up,” says Jeff Donofrio, president and CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan. “While Michigan improved in most individual metrics year over year, other states are growing faster and if we don’t act now, they will leave us in the dust.
“Michigan’s recent catalytic investments in economic development, talent and education haven’t been in place long enough for us to feel their full impact. We need to keep our foot on the pedal and continue our work to help Michiganders compete and win.”
The benchmarking allows the public and leaders to see how Michigan stacks up to other states and how to make Michigan’s people, businesses, and communities more competitive and successful.
“Michigan has made historic investments in the past year to make our state more competitive, and we must continue to stay focused on what it will take to become a top ten state,” says Howard Ungerleider, president and CFO of Dow and chairman of Business Leaders for Michigan. “It is critical that we continue to have a consistent and long-term strategy — with bipartisan support from our policymakers — that improves economic development, K-12 education, post-secondary education and training, and the overall business climate.”
Business Leaders for Michigan released its “Compete to Win: Michigan’s Path to Top 10,” plan in May that outlined a strategy for Michigan to join the top ten. The research and data-driven recommendations in “Compete to Win” focus on four priority areas: doing better by kids, investing in people, accelerating the economy, and getting the fundamentals right.
In the last year, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the legislature moved many of the bipartisan Compete to Win recommendations forward, including:
- Accelerating job creation by establishing and funding the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR), investing in economic and site development, and business retention and attraction in Michigan.
- Strengthening the fundamentals by improving Michigan’s infrastructure with investments in roads, bridges, rail, water, and broadband.
- Investing in the kids by providing equitable funding for K-12 and financial aid and helping bring more teachers and funding into the classroom.
- Creating a more agile and skilled workforce by helping more Michiganders obtain a post-secondary credential and working to make college more affordable.
“While global disruptions and economic uncertainty continue to create obstacles, they are also creating pathways to new and greater opportunity,” says Donofrio. “With strong leadership, clear goals and strategic investments, Michigan can be poised to outpace its competitors and provide widely shared prosperity for decades to come.”
