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Michigan's Sixty by 30 Goal

Michigan's Sixty by 30 Goal

By 2030, 60% of working-age Michiganders will have a certificate or college degree. Michigan will be a talent leader — fueling the future workforce and providing opportunity for all.

Sixty by 30 Strategic Plan

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Fuel Growth

Michigan must accelerate attainment to fuel economic growth.

Michigan confronts a skills gap that threatens the state’s economic growth. The jobs requiring skilled employees today, as well as the jobs on the horizon, demand greater education and training than ever before. Seventy percent of Michigan jobs will require at least some postsecondary education.

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Even the Playing Field

Michigan must accelerate attainment to even the playing field.

Talent exists everywhere. Opportunity does not. Everyone in Michigan has a right to an educational path to success – regardless of age, income, race/ethnicity or where they live. Today, however, significant attainment gaps exist by race/ethnicity, income and region. Michigan must close these gaps and create equal opportunity for all residents.

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Lift Incomes

Michigan must accelerate attainment to lift incomes.

Increasing attainment is good for Michigan and good for residents. The more educated we are as a state, the more prosperous Michigan becomes. The most thriving states in the nation also have the highest share of residents with a bachelor’s degree or higher.

More educated residents are more likely to:

  • Earn higher wages
  • Be employed
  • Have benefits from their employer
  • Vote
  • Volunteer
  • Exercise
  • Send their children to school prepared to succeed

They’re also less likely to live in poverty, participate in public assistance and be incarcerated.

Data Source: College Board, 2016

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We Must Do Better

Michigan ranks 37th nationally for education attainment. We’re below average in the Great Lakes region. States such as Ohio, Wisconsin and more are already racing ahead of Michigan to fill their talent pipelines.

Achieving the goal of getting 60% of Michigan’s workforce to attain learning beyond high school by 2030 is among the greatest challenges our state faces.