Editorial note: The statistics cited in Governor Granholm's weekly radio address citing a 7.7 percent increase in job growth and a 30 percent increase in companies doing business in the renewable energy sector are based on a small sample of green-related firms in Michigan. The report, which revealsMichigan has 109,000 current green jobs, is partially based on a large survey of 13,000 Michigan private firms. The full report will be released on Monday.
May 8, 2009
Radio address highlights upcoming green jobs summit
LANSING - In her weekly radio address, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today said that President Obama's plan to build a renewable energy economy presents enormous opportunity for job creation in Michigan and is consistent with our plan to grow the renewable energy sector to create jobs.
"According to a report being released Monday that was commissioned by the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor, and Economic Growth, Michigan businesses have already created at least 109,000 private sector green jobs," Granholm said. "Michigan's green companies have expanded their employment by 7.7 percent. Companies that produce renewable energy have grown by 30 percent." The report covers the period from 2005 to 2008.
On Monday, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and Van Jones, the president's green jobs advisor, will participate in Michigan's first-ever Green Today, Jobs Tomorrow conference, highlighting a sector where jobs are growing and part of the governor's plan to create jobs and diversify the economy. Last year, the governor established the Green Jobs Initiative to train Michigan citizens for the jobs of tomorrow, which will use $6 million dollars in federal funds to prepare Michigan workers for jobs in the alternative energy industry.
"To help keep that job creation and business growth going, we have to make sure we have the most valuable natural resource of all: a highly educated work force," Granholm said.
The Green Today, Jobs Tomorrow conference follows a visit this week from the Obama administration's director of recovery for auto communities.
"Back-to-back visits from national leaders focusing on the changing auto industry and green jobs seems fitting, because using our manufacturing strengths to diversify our economy through alternative energy will help us overcome the loss of auto jobs," Granholm said.
The governor's weekly radio address is released each Friday morning and may be heard on broadcast stations across the state. The address is available on the governor's Web site at (
www.michigan.gov/gov
) for download, together with a clip of the quote above. The radio address is also available as a podcast on the Web site, as well as on iTunes and vi2a RSS feed for general distribution to personal MP3 players and home computers. Links to the audio files and text of today's address follow.
Governor Jennifer M. Granholm
Radio Address: Green Jobs
Hello, this is Governor Jennifer Granholm.
This week, President Obama's director of recovery for auto communities and workers came back to Michigan to hear about the economic turmoil we are experiencing from job losses and to discuss solutions. He expressed the federal government's commitment to helping us move through these tough times.
On Monday, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will be here talking about a sector where jobs are growing. Solis will join Van Jones, the president's green jobs adviser, at Michigan's first-ever Green Today, Jobs Tomorrow conference.
The president's plan to build a clean, renewable energy economy that will create jobs and break America's dependence on foreign oil presents enormous opportunities for Michigan. In fact, our green economy is already taking root. According to a report being released Monday that was commissioned by the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth, Michigan businesses have already created at least 109,000 private sector green jobs. Michigan's green companies have expanded their employment by 7.7 percent. Companies that produce renewable energy have grown by 30 percent.
Those numbers are impressive, but it's really the people behind the numbers who matter. It's the laid-off autoworker who gets a job manufacturing wind turbine parts at a retooled auto plant. It's the unemployed construction worker who can pay the mortgage again because he's helping to build a biomass facility. It's the engineer who was in danger of becoming obsolete but is now developing advanced batteries. It's the kid right out of community college who can start off installing solar panels and work his way up to owning the company.
The green economy is all this, and more. To help keep that job creation and business growth going, we have to make sure we have the most valuable natural resource of all: a highly educated work force.
And that's why we've established the Green Jobs Initiative, which uses $6 million in federal funds to prepare Michigan workers for all kinds of green jobs. About $1.5 million of that will help develop training programs for specific industries, such as wind and solar, while another $1.5 million will help community colleges, universities and other facilities expand their training capacities for green jobs. And about $3 million will enable the highly successful No Worker Left Behind program to provide green-jobs training for more unemployed or underemployed citizens.
Back-to-back visits from national leaders focusing on the changing auto industry and green jobs seem fitting, because using our manufacturing strengths to diversify our economy through alternative energy will help us overcome the loss of auto jobs. More than that, though, they are two chapters in the same book. That book is the story of Michigan: a story of resilience and renewal.
Thank you for listening.
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