Gov. Rick Snyder is scheduled to visit Zeeland on Monday, Sept. 22, to launch a statewide jobs initiative.
Snyder is fresh from rubbing elbows with Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, billionaire and investment guru Warren Buffett and Bloomberg LP founder Michael Bloomberg at Goldman Sachs’ first graduation from its 10,000 small businesses program in Detroit last week. On Monday, he’ll be at Gentex Corporation Headquarters to introduce “Talent 2025,” a West Michigan-based jobs effort.
Others expected to attend Monday’s announcement are Gentex’s chairman and CEO, Fred Bauer; Jay Dunwell, Grand Rapids-based Wolverine Coil Spring’s president and TALENT 2025 President Kevin Stotts.
Michigan’s unemployment rate is at 7.4 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ August report, released Friday, Sept. 19. That’s 1.6 percentage points less than one year ago, but still exceeds the national unemployment rate of 6.1 percent. Michigan lost the most jobs from July to August, 9,500, according to the federal report. Michigan currently is tied with California and Tennessee for the nation’s fifth-highest unemployment rate, exceeded only by Nevada and the District of Columbia, at 7.6 percent; Rhode Island, 7.7 percent; Mississippi, 7.9 percent; and Georgia, 8.1 percent.
In May, Snyder signed into a law a series of minimum wage rate increases, starting from $7.40 per hour to $8.15 per hour, on Sept. 1, 2014. Other increases set: $8.50 per hour on Jan. 1, 2016; $8.90 on Jan. 1, 2017; and $9.25 on Jan. 1, 2018
Source: MEDC
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