Rick Snyder on Jobs

People now moving to Michigan for good jobs

To give you a fact you might be amazed by, but we should be really proud, our state has the highest net-bound inward migration of people with bachelor's degrees of any state in the Great Lakes region. We are winning the national and international competition for quality minds, for career opportunities for quality people and we are going to keep it up. Business in Michigan is growing with exciting expansions and new investors. We are growing a more diverse, vibrant and healthier economy.

MAT2: Michigan Advanced Technician Training for skills gap

Continuing the administration's laser focus on creating an environment that encourages job growth and prosperity includes:
• Making Michigan even more welcoming to immigrants with advanced academic degrees or entrepreneurial aspirations, allowing the state to benefit from their countless contributions, including job creation.
• Stepping up efforts to connect job providers and talent.
• Expanding the Michigan Advanced Technician Training (MAT2) program, an employer-driven initiative that helps employers bridge the "skills gap" through a statewide system for training and educating skilled technicians to fill high-paying jobs.
• Continuing the successful Community Ventures program, a public/private/nonprofit partnership created to hire at least 1,000 structurally unemployed residents from distressed neighborhoods, initially in the cities of Flint, Detroit, Pontiac and Saginaw. First-year goals have been met, resulting in jobs for over 1,400 structurally unemployed residents.

Quietly signed law making Michigan a right-to-work state

When Snyder backed the law making workplace union membership optional after long saying the contentious issue was not on his agenda, it reshaped his persona as an apolitical chief executive focused on fixing the state's problems. But the Republican governor's supporters say the fervor of right-to-work was overblown by Democrats and their union allies who stand to lose the most from a prohibition of compulsory union dues.

The law went into effect on March 28, so it is too early to calculate its effect on statistics for union membership statewide and dues collections by Michigan unions. But it has reinvigorated labor and Democratic opposition to Snyder. The Snyder administration has argued the governor is staying focused on creating an environment for more and better jobs.

Extend unemployment benefits; plan for future

These benefits are a lifeline for many Michigan families who are struggling. Cutting them off so abruptly would have jeopardized the well-bein of those who are trying hard to find work. Now we must renew our focus on improving Michigan's economic climate. We will continue driving forward with our job-creating reforms so that fewer people need to rely on unemployment benefits.