Michigan’s “Lost Decade” during the Aughts under former Governor Jennifer Granholm saw the state suffer a severe economic downturn and population losses. Although Granholm is not to blame for the Great Recession, Michigan fared worse under her leadership than most other states, experiencing uninterrupted job losses until the last year of her tenure. Michigan was also the only state to lose population between 2000 and 2010.
Under current Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan is shrinking again, losing a congressional seat in the last reapportionment after a decade of slow growth, and the state lost population for two consecutive years following the 2020 Census. A recent poll suggests this may be a sustained problem, with over a quarter of Michiganders ages 18 to 29 saying they expected to live elsewhere within ten years, and another 18 percent unsure.
To address this issue, the governor announced the appointment of a chief growth officer for the state, as well as the creation of the nominally bipartisan Growing Michigan Together Council. The council is tasked with setting a population goal for 2050 and designing policies to build, attract, and retain a skilled workforce. However, Republicans are skeptical that the effort will bear fruit, with State Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt describing the effort as an attempt to circumvent the Legislature and provide cover for tax hikes.
Whitmer has tasked the council with focusing on the right policy areas: the economy, infrastructure, and education. However, her record on these issues is not encouraging. Her investments in green energy have been ineffective, and she is giving billions more to the industry, part of her habitual doling out of corporate welfare. She also recently signed the repeal of the state’s right-to-work law, another attack on the competitiveness of Michigan businesses.
One of Whitmer’s main proposals on infrastructure was to raise additional funding for repairs by hiking the gas tax 45 cents a gallon. The abandoned idea would have made Michigan’s gas tax the highest in the nation, a serious blow to working-class families. Despite the state’s borrowing billions of dollars through a bond initiative to fund construction, a May 2022 poll found that 93 percent of likely voters rated Michigan roads negatively, suggesting the governor has so far failed to follow through on her signature promise to “fix the damn roads.”
Whitmer’s response to the coronavirus pandemic didn’t help either. Her shutdown orders sparked widespread layoffs, and only in April did the state return to its pre-pandemic unemployment rate. Similarly, most indicators of educational outcomes have fallen compared with already poor standards before the pandemic. According to a study from Michigan State University, the pandemic marked a “20 percent increase in the proportion of” students eligible to be held back in third grade due to an inability to read under a since-repealed law. Whitmer also required nursing homes to house coronavirus patients, shielding them from legal liability for mishandling Covid cases despite “167 complaints about nursing homes’ handling of COVID-19 or staffing” within a two-month period.
Whitmer’s efforts to expand abortion access have also been controversial. In the wake of Dobbs, she supported successful efforts to enshrine a right to abortion in the state constitution. In April, she signed a repeal of the state’s pre–Roe abortion ban. It is a cruel irony that, having made abortion a cornerstone of her reelection campaign, she now concerns herself with Michigan’s declining population.
Despite the governor’s desire to retain Michigan’s youth, her council is required to have only one member below the age of 25. Michigan’s sons and daughters want to build their futures in a state that has one, too. Lansing will need to make serious progress toward economic growth, high-quality education, and infrastructure improvements if the state wants to attract residents who didn’t grow up loving “bonfires by the lake.” The new council will need to prove more than a rubber-stamp of Whitmer’s failed platform if she wants to avoid another lost decade.
