Six West Michigan economic development groups strategize Michigan’s recovery

Regional economic development organizations of Battle Creek, Benton Harbor, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Newaygo and Zeeland spent $21,000 for a study they hope supports a coordinated statewide economic development strategy, reports the Kalamazoo Gazette.

The study comes as pressure builds in some levels of state government for elimination of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the state’s lead economic development organization.

The study also shows communities have to continue to court large business and satisfy the needs of large companies that already are in their communities because small businesses and new start-ups do not replace the hundreds or thousands of jobs large companies provide

Some findings:

Excerpt:

• The average high-impact firm (those that generated 84 percent of the nation’s new jobs between 2002 and 2006) is 24 years old. And only 2.5 percent of them have fewer than 20 employees. That refutes the idea that older, larger businesses don’t add jobs.

• Small business employment growth since 1985 has been at the same rate as big business growth. That redresses the belief that small business dominates employment growth in the United States.

• Business start-ups since 2000 account for 16 percent of net new jobs in the U.S. That counters the idea that start-up companies, especially small businesses, account for almost all employment growth in the U.S.

To see how regional economic development leaders analyze the report, read the rest of the story.

Source: Kalamazoo Gazette