JobsStat

A new program will help bring new Michigan jobs.

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm has put forth a plan to invest $300 million in Michigan-based companies, a move being dubbed Invest Michigan!. The plan will help create jobs and grow the state pension fund, according to a press release from the State of Michigan.

“This week, we moved forward on another of our plans to grow business and create jobs by announcing Invest Michigan! - a fund that will use $300 million, a large amount of capital but a small portion of our state pension fund, to invest in businesses that create the jobs we need in Michigan,” Granholm said in the release.

The 21st Century Jobs Fund and the Venture Michigan Fund have been investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Michigan companies at their early-growth stage, and the new Invest Michigan! program will give money to companies with later-stage capital needs.

“Invest Michigan! will use state pension funds to help diversify Michigan’s economy by retaining, attracting and building successful small and mid-sized businesses and creating jobs for Michigan workers,” Granholm added. “These investments in Michigan-based companies, in turn, will grow our pension funds. Invest Michigan! is a program that will put Michigan money to work building Michigan’s economic future.”

Earlier in the year, Granholm announced in her State of the State address she would be taking steps to bring more jobs to Michigan, many of which have already been implemented. Such initiatives include creating the nation’s most aggressive film incentive to help bring the motion-picture industry and well-paying jobs to the area, funding for business marketing and tourism promotion and incentives to attract job-creating businesses.

As of June 2008, according to the United State Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, Michigan’s unemployment rate came in at 8.5 percent, higher than the national unemployment rate of 5.7 percent. That same month, the state employed 4,221,500 workers, a 1.1 percent decrease from last year.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 8th, 2008 at 8:57 am and is filed under Job Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.