Michigan's Workforce System

Michigan is one of the nation's premier brain power centers boasting a highly skilled and flexible workforce. The state's total labor force exceeds five million, more than the population of 31 other states. 

The M-TEC program recently received a Gold Award from Business Facilities, one of the oldest publications in the economic development field.  This recognition came as a result of the state's efforts to gear training programs to the needs of the individual employer and workers. Some components of the state's workforce system include:

• Training and retraining at 28 publicly supported community colleges.
• Michigan Works! Employment service centers for employers and job seekers
• Michigan Talent Bank, with over 300,000 searchable jobs
• Michigan CareerSite, with thousands of high-tech vacancies
• Michigan Virtual University, providing training online
• Michigan Recruitment Alliance, making college graduates aware of high-tech careers in Michigan companies

Michigan Technical Education Centers (M-TECs) are the latest innovations created to support the changing needs of employers. Run by established community colleges, 17 of the 18 centers are now open and operating in 2003. The 18^th opens in 2004.