A state effort to put a skill certificate or college diploma in the hands of more Michiganders is making progress.
The Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential is working to have 60% of working-age Michigan residents earn a skill certificate or college degree by the year 2030. As of today, it says nearly 52% of state residents have reached that goal.
Courtney Brown is Vice President of Impact and Planning at Lumina Foundation, a private Indianapolis-based organization that compiled the data. She says the improvement is “pretty remarkable,” and younger people are doing even better.
“More interesting is if you look at the younger population — the 25 to 34 year-olds. As of the most recent data, they’re at 53%” she said.
When the state's Sixty by 30 program began in 2019, the latest available data showed that 45% of state residents had earned a post-high school certificate or degree.
Brown says education is more important than ever for those entering the workforce.
“Georgetown Center on Education in the Workforce says by 2030, about 72% of jobs are going to require some sort of post-secondary education, whether that’s a degree or a certificate or a certification,” she said.
Reacting to the data, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer called the improvement "just the beginning" in a press release.
"We’ll keep working to lower barriers to postsecondary education across Michigan," she said.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.