Wanted: Employees in Michigan and Ohio --- States Compete to Lure Skilled Workers Amid Shortage
DETROIT -- The economy is so good in Michigan and Ohio that these two states, once symbols of the Rust Belt's struggles, are fighting across state lines to recruit workers and ease growing labor shortages.</br></br>Michigan, facing its lowest unemployment rate in almost 30 years, at 4.4%, is doing the once unimaginable. The state is spending $50,000 to advertise in national newspapers to attract people back to the place from which thousands fled in the early 1980s when unemployment skyrocketed past 15%. One private company alone says it has about 1,000 openings.</br></br>On behalf of hundreds of companies looking for skilled workers ranging from engineers and computer analysts to construction workers, the five-week campaign is essentially a huge help-wanted ad for the state. The ad, touted by Gov. John Engler's administration as proof of Michigan's economic comeback, comes complete with a list of fringe benefits, including affordable housing, 11,000 inland lakes and the nation's highest number of golf courses. Likely to be added soon: "Home of the Stanley Cup Champions," after Detroit's beloved Red Wings won the title Saturday night. (The ads are being placed only in cold-weather climates because Michigan officials doubt they are going to attract many workers from California or Florida to brave the state's winters.)</br></br>"These are $50,000-to-$100,000-a-year jobs that are going unfilled," says Jim Tobin, a spokesman for the Michigan Employment Security Agency. "A lot of people, particularly on the East Coast, don't appreciate the high quality of life here. We are asking people to pick up and move."</br></br>But the ads are running straight into a similar campaign by some cities in Ohio. Businesses in Ohio are touting job openings, symphony, and ballet in national magazines like BYTE, and are flooding the nation's job fairs with glossy brochures in a campaign already exceeding $20,000. One task force recently came to Detroit to try to lure workers south across the state line.