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B I R M I N G H A M
Member FDIC
MARCH 10 • 2022 | 29
commitments is his chair-
manship of Business Leaders
for Michigan, an economic
leadership council consisting
of CEOs and other top execu-
tives of the state’s largest and
most influential corporations.
Business Leaders advocates
for improving the state’s eco-
nomic climate and prosperity
by way of more effective tax
policy, enhanced education-
al initiatives, infrastructure
investments and employment
opportunities.
“We look at Michigan’s busi-
ness and economic climate in
comparison to the other states,
measuring important char-
acteristics such as the growth
of our population, income
and per capita gross domestic
product (GDP),” he explained.
“Coming out of the Great
Financial Crisis, we were
a bottom 10 state. And the
good news is Business Leaders
working together with state
government and our commu-
nities, we were able to get us
from a bottom 10 to where we
are now. Depending on the
metric that you look at, in the
middle of the pack.”
“Top 10” states in terms of
jobs, productivity, personal
income and population indi-
cators, according to Business
Leaders, include California,
Colorado, Minnesota,
Pennsylvania and New York.
Ungerleider and other CEOs
aren’t satisfied with Michigan’s
rise from the bottom. He
is optimistic that “working
together we have a legitimate
shot at becoming a top 10
state.”
To get there, Business
Leaders is pursuing what he
calls four key “pillars” or pri-
orities: growth via state-spon-
sored economic development
efforts; talent development,
meaning secondary education
and technical training to boost
qualifications for good-paying
jobs; more dollars to class-
rooms for K-12 education;
and improved “business cli-
mate” so more companies find
it easier and more efficient to
locate or expand operations
here rather than in competing
states.
Senior members of
Michigan’s Jewish commu-
nity can remember the glory
days of the 1950s and 1960s,
when Detroit and its environs
were among the most pros-
perous economies on earth.
The state’s relative economic
decline from those days —
pockmarked by the bankrupt-
cies of General Motors and the
city of Detroit — has hit the
Jewish community as well, as
families have left Michigan in
search of better opportunities
and an exodus of college grad-
uates has relocated to New
York, Chicago and the West
Coast to pursue their careers.
To cite just one dismay-
ing statistic that bears on
Michigan’s economic status
today, less than half — 49%
to be exact — of the state’s
working age population has a
degree or credential needed
to qualify for a particular job
or skill.
“Michigan is addressing
this educational attainment
continued on page 30