Business Leaders for Michigan (BLM) retained Anderson Economic Group to update its annual Benchmarking report. This is the fourth year in a row that AEG has provided data collection and analysis used in BLM’s annual study of the state’s competitiveness.
In order to understand where the state stands and measure Michigan’s progress toward BLM’s goal of being a Top Ten state, this report assesses Michigan’s economic competitiveness relative to other states. Michigan’s performance was compared to 12 peer states and the “Top Ten” states on output metrics, such as employment and GDP, as well as input metrics, such as labor and energy costs, tax climate, and education.
While a printed report is available, BLM took the analysis provided by AEG and built a website to present the data using graphics that the user can modify to see more information about the state’s performance compared to peers and Top Ten states over time. Key findings included the following:
- Despite the fact that Michigan is growing faster than peer states, absolute levels of employment, earnings, and GDP remain average or below average.
- Michigan was headed in the right direction on 11 of 15 measures measuring the cost of living and cost of doing business in the state.
- Michigan’s performance was flat or headed in the wrong direction on 15 of 24 measures of value, including ones related to education and infrastructure.
The president of Business Leaders for Michigan presented our findings, as he does annually, at BLM’s Michigan CEO Summit in November 2015.