January 22, 2010

Michigan's green economy continues to grow.  This week Michigan was awarded a federal grant of almost $6 million to train more than 1,000 workers and place them into green jobs.

Green jobs can mean anything from, for example, the construction workers who install solar panels or insulation in your house to the factory worker who helps to manufacture those solar panels or wind turbines or batteries, to the engineer who researches and designs the product.

People who receive training through this grant will work in the fields of advanced battery production, energy-efficient building construction and solar energy.  They'll be training for occupations such as engineers, technicians, assemblers and installers.

This U.S. Department of Labor grant is funded by the federal Recovery Act.  Our Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth will administer the grant in partnership with the Council for Labor and Economic Growth, which is the state's workforce investment board.

This week's federal grant is the third one Michigan has received this month for training people for green jobs.  Earlier, Michigan received more than $18 million in Recovery Act funds to train workers for the green, clean energy economy.

These federal grants complement Michigan's Green Jobs Initiative which is helping to ensure that green companies have the trained workers that they need to grow and prosper

.The Green Jobs Initiative is using federal funds to train Michigan workers for all kinds of green jobs.  Some of the money is being used to develop training programs for specific industries such as wind and solar, while other dollars are helping community colleges and universities and other organizations expand their training capabilities.

Half of the money in the Green Jobs Initiative is providing job training through our No Worker Left Behind program.  About 110,000 people have enrolled in No Worker Left Behind since we launched it in 2007 - it's become a national model for workforce investment policy.

A recent state report showed that Michigan has more than 109,000 green jobs, but that number is growing.  In 2009 alone, the work of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the Michigan Economic Growth Authority set the stage for more than 20,000 green jobs to be created or retained.

The Recovery Act funds for job training received by Michigan this month reinforce the economic strategy that we developed seven years ago.  In that time Michigan has invested more than $1 billion to help nurture the growth of clean energy and green manufacturing in our state, from advanced batteries and electric vehicles to solar panels and wind turbines.  Our investments, together with Recovery Act dollars, are producing green jobs and making Michigan's economic future brighter… and greener.  Michigan is moving from the Rust Belt to the Green Belt.

Thank you for listening.