News Story

Former Governor Predicted 17,000 Jobs From 'Green Energy' Mandate, Number of Jobs Has Actually Dropped

Gov. Granholm signed 10 percent mandate in 2008, ballot initiative would increase it to 25 percent

In 2008, when then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed the state's mandated alternative energy law, she said a $6 billion investment would generate 17,000 jobs. 

The majority of those jobs never materialized.

Gov. Granholm called the alternative energy mandate "perhaps the most important legislation to create jobs and diversify Michigan's economy that has crossed my desk. … This comprehensive energy plan will create all kinds of jobs for all kinds of people."

However, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tells a different story.

When Gov. Granholm signed the Clean Renewable and Efficient Energy Act in 2008 there were 4,256 jobs in the state in "power and communications systems construction," which includes the jobs for wind and solar power construction. In 2011, that number had dropped to 3,728 jobs; about a 14 percent drop.

Yet promoters of an alternative energy ballot initiative that would mandate the state have 25 percent of its energy produced by alternative energy by 2025 are wrongly citing a Michigan State University study and claiming that if the measure passed it would create 74,495 jobs. The MSU study, however, calculated "job years" not "jobs" as some groups lobbying for the mandate are promoting. That means, for example, a person who is hired by a wind farm company and worked for 25 years would create one job, but 25 job years. The study based its job years calculations on the life of the plants, which ranged from 20 to 30 years.

Some critics are also questioning the validity of the study's job years estimate.

"Those things are usually overrated,” said Jason Gillman, a tea party activist from Traverse City. "Those 'job years' are probably like 'dog job years.'"

Ken Sikkema, senior policy adviser for the CARE for Michigan Coalition, which opposes the mandate, said a recent U.S. Department of Energy report from the American Wind Energy Association estimated the entire wind energy sector directly and indirectly employed 75,000 full-time workers by the end of 2011.

"Michigan Energy, Michigan Jobs 'jobs years' claims just don't add up, no matter how you look at them," Sikkema said in a press release. "In fact, according a report issued by the U.S. Department of Energy, there aren't even that many jobs nationwide in the wind energy industry."

Steven Miller, an assistant professor with the Center for Economic Analysis at Michigan State University who was an author on the report, said the "job years" estimates also include indirect jobs.

Indirect jobs are those that are not directly tied to the industry, but wouldn't have been created had the investment not been made. An example would be a coffee shop that hires an extra person to handle increased business. Miller said the Bureau of Labor Statistics had just one category of jobs specific to construction.

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy has also used indirect jobs in the past in its analysis.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.

News Story

'Dues Skim' Proponents, State Department Struggle to Explain Health Care Scheme

Group would lock in millions for SEIU in forced unionization

Those promoting the "Keep Home Care Safe" ballot proposal want people to believe the constitution changing plan would create a benefit to allow disabled people to be taken care of in their homes.

The thing is, that protection and a program to ensure it continues already exists.

The federal Home Help Program would continue to exist in Michigan regardless of the constitutional amendment change that's being proposed.

However, passing the proposed amendment in November would lock the forced unionization of home health care workers into the state constitution and ensure that the Service Employees International Union continues to get about $6 million a year in dues from workers who have been forced to join the union. To date, the union has taken more than $31 million from workers.

Under the existing Home Help Program, elderly patients and others suffering from various ailments can be cared for at home instead of being placed in nursing homes. It's estimated that in about 75 percent of the cases, those providing the care in the Home Help Program are relatives or friends of the patient.

Confusion has been a constant theme surrounding the SEIU scheme to trap unsuspecting workers into the union. The Michigan Quality Community Care Council (MQC3), for example, was the dummy employer the SEIU used to facilitate its forced unionization scheme in 2005.

So it would seem logical that the MQC3 would then be responsible for unemployment insurance benefits for workers it is supposed to represent. But when asked who, or what, is considered the employer of Home Help Program hired workers when they file for unemployment benefits, officials at the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency said the Michigan Department of Community Health would be considered the employer for purposes of applying for unemployment benefits.

In other words, although these workers are not state employees, a state department is considered their employer if they file for unemployment.

Michigan's Unemployment Trust Fund is financed solely from employers. This means the state (the Michigan Department of Community Health), if it is classified as the employer for the purposes of those filing for unemployment benefits, has to reimburse the trust fund.

However, the facts about this set-up were apparently unknown to many or most of those who work at MDCH.

When asked how many of the home health care workers from the Home Help Program had filed for unemployment, MDCH spokesperson Angela Minicuci said the "MDCH is not the employer of the home help caregivers so we do not have any unemployment information."

Capitol Confidential then asked Minicuci to check further, pointing out that, according to UIA, the Michigan Department of Community Health was considered the employer regarding those who apply for unemployment.

On Aug. 1, Minicuci's response was: "It’s a little more complicated than that. The beneficiaries are the employer, and pay unemployment as reimbursing employers. That means that MDCH pays unemployment on behalf of the beneficiaries and is then reimbursed. I’m checking to see if we have that data, but so far I have not been able to locate it."

The beneficiaries are the Medicaid recipients who receive Medicaid checks, minus the union dues being taken by the SEIU. Minicuci checked again and later said: "It looks like the information I received (on Wednesday) was incorrect. MDCH is considered the fiscal agent so we do pay unemployment for 434 individuals as of July 7, 2012."

The confusion about who or what agency is the employer is not new.

The MQC3 was the dummy employer used for the forced unionization. Once the unionization was successful it stopped calling itself the employer. From that point on it claimed to be an agency with a board of directors that maintained a voluntary registry of so-called home health care workers. Based on the six-year history of this registry, it's likely that if the legislature wanted to create the same registry within a department, it could be maintained by one or two employees.

The following is information obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request has been handed out by the MQC3 to so-called home health care workers seeking employment  in the Home Help Program.

Here's some of the MQC3 provided information:

We [MQC3] are not your employer.

- The Consumer is your employer.

- You will still need to be interviewed and hired by the Consumer. The Consumer may also terminate your employment at any time.

The Consumer (or beneficiary) is the person who gets the Medicaid check. What if the consumer is a parent taking care of a developmentally disabled child or a relative taking care of a disabled elderly person? At that point, are they the employer? Are they the home health care worker? Are they both at the same time?

The SEIU and others, including Dohn Hoyle, treasurer and co-chairman of the "Keep Home Care Safe” ballot proposal, have chosen not to respond to questions for comment. Hoyle also is executive director of The Arc Michigan, an agency that works with people with developmental disabilities, and he's a member of the MQC3 board.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.