May 12, 2006

Governor's Comprehensive Jobs Plan Bringing Business to State

LANSING – In her weekly radio address, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today stressed that Michigan’s comprehensive jobs plan is helping to convince businesses from around the world to come to Michigan.  Next week, Granholm will travel with economic development officers to Japan to meet with 19 companies that have the potential to help expand and diversify Michigan’s economic horizons.
 
“I’ll meet face to face with business leaders and executives to persuade them that Michigan is the best place in the world for them to grow their business, the best place in the world to grow jobs, and the best place to find skilled, qualified workers” Granholm said.  “Japan might be half a world away, but the results of our previous investment mission can be seen in communities all across the state.”
 
The investment mission will be Granholm’s second trip to Japan in ten months. Granholm’s trip begins in Toyko where she will meet with eleven companies.  On Wednesday, the Governor will travel to Nagoya where she will meet with an additional eight firms before departing for Michigan Thursday afternoon.  Granholm will be meeting with executives representing companies in the areas of chemicals, electronics, banking, and manufacturing.  Last year, 10 Japanese companies chose to expand in Michigan, creating 630 new jobs and investing $116 million in their Michigan-based operations.
 
The Governor’s three-day investment mission is part of a long-term strategy that starts here at home.  Wherever she travels, Granholm tells business leaders about the $2 billion 21st Century Jobs Fund, about the $600 million in tax cuts she signed into law to encourage businesses to insource jobs to Michigan, and about the state’s efforts to build the highly skilled workforce they need by investing more in public education than ever before and adopting a rigorous core curriculum.
 
“Michigan has the most aggressive and most comprehensive jobs plan of any state in the nation,” Granholm said.  “It’s a plan that we’re putting to work, and it’s a plan that is working.”

Granholm’s investment mission is just the latest example of the Governor’s commitment to go anywhere, do anything to bring jobs to Michigan.  Already this year, the Governor has traveled to Massachusetts where she held a series of meetings to encourage East Coast job providers and investors to expand in Michigan, and to Chicago where she met with a number of the world’s leading bio-science companies considering locating or expanding in Michigan.  The Governor also spoke with representatives from high-tech auto manufacturers during the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) conference in Detroit.
 
In 2004 and 2005, Granholm led investment missions to Germany and Japan, respectively.  Following her 2005 mission to Japan, a total of 10 companies stated their intentions to expand in Michigan, including DENSO and Tokai Rika, for a total investment of $116 million and 630 news jobs.  Granholm’s 2004 investment mission to Germany resulted in eight companies investing approximately $30 million and creating more than 150 new Michigan jobs over the next several years, including Behr Industries, Eberspacher, and Bosch.

The Governor’s weekly radio address is released each Friday at 10:00 a.m. and may be heard on broadcast stations across the state through an affiliation with the Michigan Association of Broadcasters.  The address will also be available on the Governor’s website on Mondays as a podcast for general distribution to personal MP3 players and home computers

Broadcasters Note: Governor Granholm’s radio address can be accessed through Sunday evening exclusively through the Members Only page of the Michigan Association of Broadcasters website. 

Publishers Note: The text of today’s address is attached.