March 7, 2005

Goal is to Match Unemployed with 30,000 Jobs in 2005

LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today called on the Michigan Council for Labor and Economic Growth to play a key role in helping match unemployed workers with jobs through the Michigan Opportunity Partnership, which was unveiled during the 2005 State of the State address.

Granholm announced the new MI Opportunity Partnership to retool Michigan’s job training programs and proactively steer unemployed workers into high-demand career fields, such as health care, with the goal of matching 30,000 unemployed workers with jobs by the end of 2005.

"Meeting our goal will require a joint, collaborative, and extremely focused effort, and we are grateful that this effort will be championed by the Council for Labor and Economic Growth," Granholm said. "While thousands of people are looking for work, nearly 90,000 job vacancies already exist. That is why we are deploying the MI Opportunity Partnership to conduct immediate, rapid-response training to quickly and comprehensively train and place out-of-work citizens to fill openings that employers have today, particularly in health care and the skilled trades."

Council members include key leaders from business, labor, community colleges, universities, community-based organizations, local workforce boards, the K-12 educational community, and government. The new 75-member council met for the first time today. It has a majority of private sector members and has been organized to better address Michigan’s workforce development needs while still meeting federal requirements.

Granholm challenged council members to play a leadership role in meeting the MI Opportunity Partnership objectives, which include:

• placing 30,000 unemployed workers into jobs by the end of 2005;

• contacting 35,000 employers to identify job openings; and,

• conducting pilot programs at four Regional Skills Alliances (RSAs) to provide accelerated training for jobs in health care and skilled trades.

Granholm established the council by Executive Order 2004-36 to develop strategies to encourage and stimulate innovative responses to Michigan’s workforce challenges, including preparing workers for the 21st century. It replaced the Michigan Workforce Investment Board, yet still complies with federal workforce law. In keeping with the council’s strong connection to industry, Sharon Wenzl, Tower Automotive vice president of human resources and communications, is serving as the CLEG Chair.

Granholm told council members that their work on the Mi Opportunity Partnership is part of a broader Jobs Today, Jobs Tomorrow strategy to strengthen Michigan’s economy and put people back to work.

"We’re working on several parallel tracks to get our economic engine roaring again," Granholm said. "We need a balanced budget; we need to have a business tax structure that encourages job creation, helps small business grow, and attracts research and development; we need to continue our work to improve education; we need to change the Merit Scholarship to make the opportunity of higher education available to more students."

The new council will build on some of the workforce development successes already achieved by the Granholm Administration, including the establishment of 13 Regional Skills Alliances (MiRSASM) – Michigan’s employer-led, regionally-based workforce development partnerships that address local workforce challenges.

Some of the other strategic efforts the new council will help Governor Granholm and the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth tackle are:

• achieving the Governor’s goal of doubling the number of students who obtain college degrees and other credentials over the next 10 years;

• facilitating the transition of Michigan workers to 21st century jobs and careers;

• engaging local workforce boards and officials to strategically build effective coalitions to achieve workforce and economic development goals;

• forming and implementing a system to measure the success of workforce development in Michigan; and

• guiding creation of a strategy to assist low-wage workers to become financially self-supporting.

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