Michigan - Speaking with Forked Tongue?

Michigan is big on promoting its natural resources as a major tourist attraction, but small on coming through with money to support those resources. Based on data from 2006, the Citizen's Research Council of Michigan reports:

Michigan ranked at 34th of the 50 states in full time equivalent (FTE) employees working in natural resources per capita. Michigan has 4.5 state employees per 10,000 residents working in this sector.

In the area of Parks and Recreation, Michigan has 0.3 FTE employees per 10,000, while the national average is 1.1 FTEs in this field.

For those who drive in Michigan it may come as no surprise that Michigan ranked worst in state highway employees per capita. Michigan had 2.9 state highway employees per 10,000 residents. So if you want to travel to all the great recreation sites the state is promoting, you can take your chances on the condition of the roads.

Citizen's Research Council of Michigan seeks to provide information on several aspects of the budget debate: the relative size of the state’s public sector workforce, comparing the number and distribution of Michigan government employees with those of other states; the relative size of the state and local government workforce; and the relative cost of state employees, comparing average salaries and fringe benefit costs of Michigan state employees to those of other states’ employees.

The debate about the appropriate size of state government underlies efforts to develop a comprehensive, bipartisan solution to Michigan’s structural budget deficit.

Michigan, Florida, and Pennsylvania are among the states with the largest absolute numbers of state and local government employees, yet the fewest state and local employees relative to population. Michigan ranked 45th of the 50 states in the number of state and local FTE employees per 10,000 residents

read the full report at Citizen's Research Council of Michigan, a 16 page pdf file
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