In the United States of America, the Michigan state is one among the best-performing states economically. In almost all of its economic fields, Michigan ranks second or third nationally. With considerable GDP, Michigan has a low unemployment rate of 7.5%. The recession of the late 2000s has affected the economic growth of Michigan, contributing to this unemployment rate. The automobile sector takes the lead under manufacturing while finance under banking takes the rear. Michigan's economy is thriving, but it still needs improvement to ensure it continues to thrive. In this easy, the main sectors propelling the economy of Michigan as well as some misgivings on the same will be under discussion.
Michigan's best-performing sector is the manufacturing industry, where the automotive subsector performs commendably. Michigan ranks highly with the highest number of engineers in America. The automotive sector propels the state's economy, upholding the poorly performing sectors. The automobile sector is the largest in America in terms of both production and workforce. The Michigan automotive sector incorporates the production of air, water, and land transport vessels. There is use of high technology in this field, which demands highly trained personnel. Michigan institutions of higher learning are the suppliers of these personnel. After the automotive sector is the machinery production sector, then the fabricated metal production. These other two sectors do not encompass as much detail as the automotive one does. The manufacturing industry performs the majority of Michigan researches and provides the greatest number of employment. In short, it is the backbone of Michigan's economy.
The agricultural sector comes second with dairy products being the leading subsector in the industry. Michigan has a wide variety of agricultural products ranking second after California. Michigan has ten million acres of land on farms. Under these acres, Michigan is the third Christmas tree producer in the United States, although this is not the leading crop (Winters & Kestenbaum 374). Michigan produces highly on fruits with a considerably wide variety. In conjunction with the manufacturing industry, the agricultural sector has many processing plants that process farm produce. Such plants include Kellogg's cereal, Hebrew National sausage companies, Thornapple Valley, Koegel Meat Company, and Ball Park Franks. Processing plants improve the value of farm products, making them earn more money and be considerably durable. In that case, the agricultural sector is making exploits, creating considerable employment for the residents. Other common crops in Michigan are soy beans, sugar beets, corns, and navy beans. Apart from dairy farming, Michigan has over three million chicken as well as one million hogs. The wide variety of crops livestock growing in Michigan makes it self-sufficient as well as a great supplier of crops, mostly fruits, to the large United States population.
Third comes the tourism and hospitality sector, which benefits considerably from the many lakes and awesome natural sites. Michigan hosts many numbers of tourists from other states in the United States and Canada. All the same, around seventy percent of tourists are residents of Michigan. The tourism and hospitality sector provides roughly one hundred and ninety-three thousand jobs, with revenue of around seventeen billion every year (Bureau of Labor Statistics 3). There are many tourism destinations in Michigan that attract different types of tourists. There are many lakes, wonderful sites, and a huge forest. Therefore, hunters get to enjoy hunting in the forest, vacationers and nature enthusiasts get great experience at great lakes and other sites. In addition to the tourism sites, there are also forest products, which contribute earn twelve billion revenues annually from the many people that visit the forests. The forest management and service provision provides an average of two hundred thousand jobs. It is apparent that the tourism sector and other related subsectors provide close to five hundred jobs to Michigan individual. It is important to note that Michigan has a highly educated workforce; hence, it has no difficulties with getting experts and professionals in any field.
However, Michigan's economy could grow at a faster rate if the commerce and banking sector were doing better than currently. According to Netstate Michigan, the finance, insurance and real estate sector ranks third in the services sector in the state. This subsector is one of the most important ones in the growth of any economy. The banking finance and real estate sector of every economy are important. Every great economy in the world, for example, Canadian economy, owes its success on the banking sector. The strength of the banking sector in an economy determines its growth rate. With this subsector lagging behind, Michigan's economy stands a great chance of improvement. It is important for the Michigan state government to strategize on ways of improving this subsector to boost the overall economic performance of Michigan. If this subsector improves in its performance, it will assist in boosting Michigan's economy from the late 2000s recession (Ayanian 1773). The population of Michigan is increasing, and the urban residents are increasing in number as well. With the increase in urban residents, there is a dire need of accommodation and housing. Thus, the services of the real estate sector become very vital for the growth of the Michigan economy. All stakeholders ought to direct their efforts and concerns towards improving the real estate sector, to ensure proper housing for all Michigan residents.
In addition, it is important for Michigan to work out a plan of conserving the environment. Michigan's environmental depletion is high, resulting from its huge manufacturing activities as well as mining. Manufacturing firms emit greenhouse gases that deplete the ozone layer. The depletion is continuous as long as the gases are on emission. Therefore, in order to counter the effect of the greenhouse gases, the manufacturing firms should enforce measures to reduce or eliminate the emission of greenhouse gases. Conserving the environment has current benefits and most importantly, its greater benefits are for the generations to come. Mining is another practice that adversely affects the environment. Minerals are part of biodiversity in the ecosystem. The removal of those minerals from the ecosystem limits biodiversity, which eventually directly or indirectly affects population dynamics. Additionally, poor mining practices leave open grounds that harbor water, which is a threat to human health as well as to animals in the surroundings. During the mining process, there are occasions in which dangerous gases erupt from the mine, affecting the miners (Ayanian 1774). Therefore, precaution should be enacted to ensure that miners are safe and at the same time, proper mining practices should be employed to ensure the ground left after mining will be of no harm to the environment.
Michigan's economy is one to reckon with, from its many faces that bring considerable success. The blending of many different sectors into the Michigan's economy makes the economy self-sufficient. Self-sufficiency is important for every economy since the import rates drops reducing expenditure. The fact that Michigan deals with processing farm products is commendable. Processing increases the value of the product. In addition, the fact that it does not depend on raw materials for its economy is a thing for other nations to learn and emulate. Due to the fact that Michigan depends largely on the manufacturing industry, it is possible that the rate of environmental depletion is high. Therefore, it is important for Michigan to embark on means of conserving the environments.