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What does this mean to Michigan? 

Thanks to the automotive industry, Michigan has been in the top ranking of manufacturing states for a century now.  What is obvious to anyone watching statewide newspaper headlines is that manufacturing is suffering.  While manufacturing will continue to be a massive part of the state’s economic power for years to come, a look ahead suggests that there are new waypoints to evaluate.  Questions arise that seem to threaten some of the basic tenets of our economic identity:

·        How long can we endure manufacturing jobs leaving the state at such an astonishing pace?

·        Can we continue to afford replacing these relatively high-paying jobs in manufacturing and industry with lower paying service jobs? 

·        Is there a solution for Michigan and our region?

The answers seem to lie in preparation.  On the short-term Michigan, (and especially the northwest region) is creating jobs, but increasingly they are lower paying, service positions.  On the long term we already have the physical infrastructure, and some of the tools, but seem to lack a vocabulary of how to move ourselves smoothly into the knowledge economy.

The knowledge economy dictates that companies (and their workers) must be fast on their feet, flexible in skills and production, and be capable of seeing shifts in the marketplace before it becomes too late.  To survive these changes businesses will need to rethink past approaches of hiring mono-skilled “laborers.”  These are exactly the jobs that are leaving the state and the country.  Northern Michigan should strive to train a workforce that can meet the demands of this new type of business and employment model.  Multi-skilled workers, eager to learn more and stay on the cutting edge of the technology appropriate to their industry, will make it easier for businesses to meet the challenges of the knowledge economy. 

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