100 Jobs? It Looks Good to Michigan
September 10, 2009 by admin
Filed under Career News and Advice
DETROIT — The announcement of a new plant employing just 100 workers might seem like a long shot to attract the chief executive of General Motors, two senators and a raft of state and local officeholders from across Michigan.
Fabrizio Costantini for The New York Times
The chairman of G.M., Fritz Henderson, right, joined Representative John D. Dingell in a recent tour of a car-battery plant.
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But in a state that has lost 800,000 jobs this decade, 18 percent of its work force, the Aug. 13 official opening of a G.M. factory to build electric-car batteries in Brownstown, about 20 miles southwest of Detroit, was a can’t-miss event.
“The phrase ‘new plant’ isn’t one we’re used to hearing these days,” said John Cherry, Michigan’s lieutenant governor, as he stood inside the sprawling, empty building in this industrial town about 20 miles south of Detroit.
Any new factory would be celebrated in this state, which has been hit harder than most by the recession.
But the one in Brownstown held particular significance because it was another small step in Michigan’s efforts to revive its economy with “green” manufacturing.
The state has moved aggressively to offset the drain of traditional auto manufacturing jobs by promoting Michigan as the place to invest in alternative energy projects.
By the end of July, for example, Michigan had already exhausted its full year’s budget of $725 million in tax credits to attract new companies to the state.
Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm has been asking state legislators to allocate more tax credits, specifically to help redevelop an old Ford Motor …
Read the original article at NYTimes
