The REMI model used in this study of Michigan’s economic outlook through the year 2040 was an eighty-four region model that included eighty-two counties, the City of Detroit, and the balance of Wayne County. Researchers chose the REMI model because it is a state-of-the-art model that has thirty years worth of field-testing and is comprehensive, incorporating interacting economic and demographic modules and accounting for trade flows among counties. The analysis using this model found growing evidence that the state of Michigan was progressing out of their most catastrophic economic period in recent memory, but needed to be cautious in how to proceed. The looming problem in the state’s future was labor shortages, particularly of workers with skills that mesh with the evolving knowledge- and information-based economy.
University of Michigan – The Economic and Demographic Outlook for Michigan through 2040 [full PDF]
