Crain’s Detroit Business – Gary Anglebrandt
“Michigan has gotten the hint: Employers need STEM-trained workers. Efforts have been made to plug the gap by lots of stakeholders — high schools, community colleges, employer groups, nonprofits, workforce agencies, foundations and businesses. Yet the need for specific kinds of workers still exists. “The issue has been out there long enough for people to have an understanding of it,” said Gary Farina, executive director of the Michigan STEM Partnership in Lansing. “It’s on their radar, and they’re out there seeing what they can do.” And there is a lot to do, judging by recent studies. Much of the growing need is for middle-skill workers — those with more than a high school diploma but less than a bachelor’s degree, such as largely technical jobs in manufacturing and health care, said a J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. report published in April. It’s one of the most recent of many studies showing the need to educate more students in science, technology, engineering and math. The Chase report focused on the six-county metropolitan statistical area of Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair and Wayne counties.”(more)