By John Bebow - March 20, 2008
Quality of place.
It's a huge driver of where people choose to live and work in the early 21st Century.
That reality is driven home by brand-new statewide population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The numbers are generally grim for Michigan. Well more than half of all Michigan counties lost population between 2006 and 2007. Which county had the best results? Grand Traverse, home to beautiful beaches, orchards, wineries, state parks and open space, and one of the hippest downtowns in the Midwest. The bottom line, after totalling all deaths, births, in-migrants, and out-migrants in Grand Traverse County was an additional thousand residents in 2007, an increase of 1.2 percent. Kent County picked up more than 3,000 and neighboring Ottawa County picked up more than 2,000.
Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Genesee and Saginaw counties are among who lost thousands of residents to migration to other places. But the overall numbers would have been much worse if not for the statewide influx of 20,000 incoming migrants to Michigan -- people from many walks of life who must see hope and promise in our "North Coast" ways of life.
Check out the numbers for yourself with these charts courtesy of Kurt Metzger, research director of the United Way for Southeastern Michigan:
3 Comments
I wish I thought that any new citizens in this state were coming in to work and pay taxes.
But, with our large increases in those on the government dole--and there truly are not many better places than Michigan to be on the dole--it is apparent that it isn't jobs and workers coming to our state.
The US census bureau showed that our illegal population is growing. Mmmmm, wonder why.
At what point are those of us that try to employ citizens and pay the bulk of this state's taxes going to wizen up?
Oh, that's right, we are. We are voting with our feet and leaving.
If the state does not wake up soon, good luck to you all, those of us paying the taxes are getting fed up.
It is dangerous to consider large population as a positive factor for a healthy economy. The more people you have, the more jobs you need. If the jobs are there, lucky for them. But if the jobs are not there, population must be a negative factor. And these jobs that are making Grand Traverse so wonderful- What are they doing to their air, water, soil?
Large populations require alot of water. Our Grdeat Lakes are at near record lows. Large populations put a significant strain on the power grid. How much coal is Grand Traverse responsible for as far as needing to burn it to sustain the Grand Traverse lifestyle?
We must begin to view the
Michigan population as unsustainable. Until most MIchigan residents are prepared to accept that, the environment we exploited to acheive a Grand Traverse Lifestyle will be our undoing.
"I wish I thought that any new citizens in this state were coming in to work and pay taxes."
-- Well its apparently your choice to think the way you do, without evidence you make a cynical statement of self superiority and demeaning others.
Why dont you critics of how our economy is being handled go look out on the MEDC's website for info on new jobs and companies coming here?
We cannot do much about the Auto industry's near collapse in Michigan. Thats a fact. people all over our country are buying up foreign corporation's cars faster than from the Detroit3. Its not michigan's inherent fault that the rest of the world has shown a preference for japanese and korean cars.
But it is our problem.
So what do you do? Go find new companies and new types of jobs to bring in of course.
- Recent Blog info -
"Gov. Granholm, at the auto show in Detroit last week, signed an agreement with the federal Dept. of Energy that will create an installation of the famed Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Michigan. From its earliest days during World War II outside of Knoxville, Tenn., ORNL has been a center of strategic scientific research by the U.S. government. They will create a new center for alternative energy research in cooperation with the nation's auto industry, both auto makers and auto suppliers. The facility will be sited in the Shelby Twp. auto R&D center being vacated by Delphi.
From Canada comes NxtGen Emission Controls, the clean diesel technology developer, now considering a new administration and manufacturing center in Wixom. Arbor Networks, a global computer network security provider with facilities in Beijing and London, chose to expand its R&D operations in Ann Arbor rather than a competing site in Massachusetts where it is headquartered."
- Recent Announcements -
All Announced on March 18 --
ArvinMeritor, Brose, Paragon Metals Expansions Create Over 2,400 Jobs ........
Boar's Head Provisions to Expand in Holland, Create 447 New Jobs .......
High Tech Firms MyBuys, Sakti3 Choose Ann Arbor for New Locations ........
North American Bancard to Expand in Troy, 1,899 New Jobs .........
--Tuesday, February 19, 2008--
General Dynamics Expansion in Macomb County Supports Armored Vehicle Production, 1,149 Jobs
............
Granholm: MEDC Helping More Companies Expand, Grow Jobs in Michigan
............
Kaiser Aluminum, Fabri-Kal Expanding in Kalamazoo Area, 877 New Jobs
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The Michigan.gov page for the Business and Economic Growth section states this at the top -- "Now is the perfect time to begin your business relationship with Michigan -- number one in the nation five years in a row for new plants and expansions."
If they were wrong, thats a huge risk to take to make a statement like that. I would bet they are right. Which makes the Job they are doing under extremely trying circumstances in Lansing one of the best ever.
Sure Michigan is still in a tough spot, we've lost so many tens of thousands of Automotive related jobs in the past 7 yrs and the peripheral jobs that have been lost that go with large groups of downturns have hammered areas of our state pretty miserably. Other industry thats left the state for cheap labor and benefits have compounded the problem. ...But there is no other choice than to keep trying hard to promote Re-education, Re-training, and use every possible resource we have to bring new business into the state.
Which its apparent that the MEDC and the Governor have been workign overtime for pretty much at least the past 6 yrs to do just that, and remedy the problem.
People are coming into this state from other states, to A) take a look at business opportunities, B) upper level employees from other facilities coming here to expand or open new facilities in MIchigan.
Critics cant answer the question of - Why would companies from other countries and US states come here and break ground, or expand in Michigan if Michigan is so bad in Taxes, or so bad in Skilled workers, or so bad of an environment as to make it a nondesirable location.
I swear some critics want our state to fail and want us to go into the tank for political reasons. They know they are secure so they dont care what happens to the thousands that arent secure here, they just have an agenda to try to regain power and use it to their advantage.
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