LANSING ? Gov. Jennifer Granholm, kicking off an effort intended to place 30,000 unemployed persons in jobs this year, called for a cultural change in how the state identifies job vacancies and prepares those who need work to gain and hold jobs.

Michigan’s jobless rate continues to hover above the national average and the state continues to shed higher-wage jobs, with another 8,000 fewer manufacturing positions January than the month before. The Council for Labor and Economic Growth faces a goal in 2006 of filling 40,000 jobs.

“There are 90,000 vacancies,? she said. ?We need to match the unemployed with those jobs,” she said.

She told the 75-member council, whose members come from private business, labor, local schools, colleges, social services groups and state government, that: “I am assuming we are not on separate teams. We will not allow Michigan to be at the bottom of the pack. We will have a change of culture or we will be eaten alive.”

The council’s task is to implement the MI Opportunity Partnership, which the governor announced in her State of the State address last month.

The council is to work through Regional Skills Alliances and community colleges to provide specific job training, particularly in the health care and skilled trades areas, while contacting 35,000 employers this year. It is also intended to cross-link a number of programs the state provides to assist in job training and placement, breaking out of what the governor called “silos.”

“There is clearly a need to have a seamless and effective workforce development system in Michigan,” Granholm said at the council’s initial meeting. “Let’s go forth and change the employment landscape in Michigan.”

One area of need in health care is registered nursing, with a shortage of 300,000 nurses expected by 2008. The community colleges are offering a condensed 13-month program for students who already have some required coursework such as math, compared to the standard two-year program.

The council has additional meetings planned for 10 a.m., Monday, May 23 at the Lansing Community College West Campus; 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, September 13 at the Soaring Eagle Resort in Mount Pleasant in conjunction with the Michigan Works! Annual conference; and 10 a.m., Monday, November 7 in Lansing.

This story was provided by content partner Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com