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2-Day Economic Summit Highlights Michigan Employment

DETROIT (WWJ) - Talent and jobs will be the focus of a two-day economic summit kicking off in West Michigan Monday. Michigan Economic Development Corporation President and CEO Michael Finney will provide opening remarks and says programs, like Community Ventures, have been successful in getting people jobs.

"We were successful in getting a thousand people into jobs whose employment prospects were extremely low," said Finney.

"We now have our second year of funding - we are a quarter of the way through the year and we've already hit a five-hundred job milestone. We fully expect that we'll get another one thousand people into jobs."

The Governor will address business, education and government leaders at the summit Tuesday.

Other speakers will include:

Doug DeVos, president, Amway;
George A. Erickcek, senior regional analyst, Upjohn Institute;
Fred Keller, chairman and CEO, Cascade Engineering;
Jeff DeGraff, Ph.D., University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

"The thing that we are trying to do is first of all find employers that have needs, for individuals who ... have different degrees of skills ... what we have found is that there are many employers who are willing to hire individuals who are unskilled, and who are structurally unemployed," said Finney.

The summit will also feature pitches by job seekers and presentations on best practices that are being used currently.

Find more information on the 2014 Governor's Economic Summit [HERE]

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