Published: June 30, 2008 10:00 am      

More people leaving the state

Young people aren't finding jobs in Michigan

TRAVERSE CITY -- Bob Thalman is considering leaving Michigan to begin his career.

He graduated in May from Cedarville University in Ohio with a degree in English and a passion for libraries. He has worked at the Traverse Area District Library since 2002, a job he holds today.

But Thalman, 22, said Ohio is more "optimistic" than Michigan about library careers.

"It'd be nice to work here in this area," he said. "But there aren't too many job openings."

A number of recent alums are beginning searches amid news of buyouts, layoffs and hiring freezes at companies throughout the state.

Times are tough for some fields, including education, said Phil Gardner, director of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University.

New teachers can easily find work in school districts along the coasts, Gardner said, but "that's a disaster anywhere in the Midwest."

"The money is not there," he said. "The student demographics are low, so they don't need as many teachers."

But some industries are booming, particularly information technology, civil engineering and nursing.

And recruiters, many of whom come to Michigan from other states, are facing pressure to train a younger workforce as the baby boomer generation approaches retirement, Gardner said.

Danielle Priest hopes that trend reaches her. The recent Wayne State University graduate began job hunting before she moved to Kingsley in May, and now is looking for anything that will pay off her student debt.

"It's not no jobs," said Priest, 23, who has a political science degree. "It's a lot of people looking for jobs."

About twice as many people have moved out of Michigan in the last 18 months than have moved into the state, said Art Morse, owner of Morse Moving and Storage in Traverse City.

The company, affiliated with Allied Van Lines, has moved hundreds of people to such states as Texas and North Carolina.

"All the moving vans will tell you the same thing," he said. "It was an inbound state three years ago. It's an outbound state now."