U.S. Census report for 2022 shows migration from Michigan

Michigan is a state people leave; right-to-work repeal could drive Michigan’s jobs and people elsewhere

By Jamie A. Hope | January 24, 2023

Michigan’s population shrank last year, according to new migration estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. While the state’s population declined by less than 10,000, to 10,034,113, it was 35th in the nation for population change last year. James Hohman, director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center, says that if right-to-work is repealed in Michigan, the state should anticipate a steeper decline in population in the future.

Hohman says the state should be doing much better than it is, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “strictest and unconstitutional COVID lockdown was a bad call.” It still has a large effect on how well the state has bounced back from the pandemic. Residents need stronger economic growth, he says, adding that historically, people move for better employment opportunities.

Related reading: Migration report: Michigan is shedding people

Over the long run, right-to-work laws are associated with stronger population growth. In the past two years, 2.1 million people have moved from states without right-to-work laws to states that protect a worker’s right to not be forced to pay membership dues. The strongest population growth in the Midwest has been in Indiana, a right-to-work state.

While Michigan suffered a population decline in 2022, New York, Illinois and Louisiana saw steeper ones. New York lost 0.9% of its population. Illinois and Louisiana were right behind, with a loss of 0.8%.

Florida came in first in the nation with a 1.9% population increase. It was followed by Idaho at 1.8% and South Carolina at 1.7%.

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.

Michigan bill would ban TikTok on government phones

Bill shows a growing acknowledgement of the U.S. rivalry with China

By James David Dickson | January 23, 2023

If Senate Bill 15 of 2023 becomes law, the 47,000 employees of the state of Michigan would be banned from using TikTok on their work phones.

SB 15 was introduced Jan. 17 by Sen. Lana Theis, R-Brighton, and referred to the Senate Committee on Labor. The most important part of the three-page bill comes at the end:

“A public officer or employee shall not use TikTok on an electronic device that is owned, managed, or controlled by the public officer’s or employee’s employer. As used in this subsection, ‘TikTok’ means the short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.”

Read it for yourself: Senate Bill 15 of 2023

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels

The bill’s passage is unlikely, given the political composition of Lansing. In 2023, Michigan Democrats “hold all the gavels” in the Legislature. There is no assurance that the proposal will get as much as a committee hearing.

The labor issue that’s top of mind for Michigan Democrats is the repeal of the 2012 right-to-work law, which allows workers to keep their jobs even when they opt out of their unions.

But the bill’s introduction is a signal of the political winds, which are blowing against China, America’s global adversary.

In Washington, D.C., the U.S. House voted to create a committee on U.S.-China competition. On that effort, Rep. Rashida Tlaib was the only Michigan representative to vote no.

In April 2021, U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Bruce Township, co-sponsored a bill that would ban TikTok on U.S. government devices, just as the Theis bill would ban it on state government devices. It never got a vote in the Democrat-controlled House.

But just as Democrats run Lansing, Republicans now control the U.S. House.