The state’s largest employers add jobs and invest in Michigan in 2013
DETROIT, Mich., February 18, 2014 – Business Leaders for Michigan (BLM), the state’s business roundtable, expects the Michigan and U.S. economies to both grow in the next 6 and 18 months and expects Michigan’s economy to continue to grow faster than the U.S. economy. “The state’s largest job providers continue to believe Michigan will out-perform the national economy over the next year and a half,” said Doug Rothwell, President & CEO. “Optimism about the economy rose sharply in the last quarter due partly to the resolution of federal budget and debt ceiling negotiations and strong year-end financial reports from major Michigan employers.” Highlights of the survey of Business Leaders for Michigan include:
- Sixty four percent of business leaders believe Michigan’s economy will grow and none believe it will get worse while only 51% forecast the U.S. economy will grow the next six months.
- Optimism for Michigan’s economy in the long-term outpaced optimism for the national economy with 79 percent of Michigan’s business leaders believing the state’s economy will grow compared to only 63 percent of business leaders forecasting the U.S. economy will grow in the next 18 months.
- Fifty-two percent of business leaders project that their companies will add jobs in the six months in Michigan and over a one-third believe they will make capital investments in Michigan.
Business leaders of the state’s largest employers added almost 10,000 jobs and made capital investments of almost $7 billion in Michigan in 2013. The results reflect a survey of Business Leaders for Michigan’s 80 executives, the state’s largest private sector job providers that represent nearly one-quarter of the state’s economy. Quarterly Economic Outlook Reports are available at businessleadersformichigan.com/research-and-reports.
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