Here’s how Michigan’s birthrate decline could affect the future of our economy

Michigan’s population loss has been costly. As part of the most recent census, the state lost a seat in Congress, and new figures show the state’s birth rate is below the death rate for the second straight year.

In 2021, Michigan recorded 105,022 births and 117,756 deaths, which is likely to have a significant economic impact.

Economically, Michigan’s future workforce is shrinking; Unless something dramatic happens, it will likely continue to shrink for years to come.

Fewer infants in hospital maternity wards began as a trend across Michigan as early as the 1980s, but the disparity is widest in recent years.

That’s no surprise to Louis Glazer, president of Michigan Future, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the state thrive in a knowledge-based economy.

He told Local 4 this was very bad economic news.

“This is the kind of report that should alarm anyone who cares about Michigan’s economy,” Glazer said.

At first glance, this means fewer potential employees and companies need to grow. The slowdown in activity is made much worse by what Glazer calls Michigan’s brain drain.

Two- and four-year college students decide that Wolverine State is not for them and move to states with more attractive cities.

In a Washington Post data study, Glazer points to places like Colorado, Minnesota, and Illinois. Cold-weather states attract more foreign graduates than those graduating from their own universities.

In that ratio of graduates leaving to those staying, Michigan is catching up, losing 14% more of its graduate students than it retains.

“You can’t have a growing economy if more people are exiting the workforce than are entering, and what these reports say is not just a problem today, it will be a problem in Michigan for decades to come.”

On a practical level, this means companies looking to grow won’t have the hands on Michigan to do it, and that will drive them to look to other states instead, either partially or entirely. Not a promising prospect.

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