By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Millennials, those mobile 25- to 34-year-olds the world’s cities want to attract, are the key to West Michigan’s economic future, and if we don’t attract them while they’re still young and mobile we won’t get them at all.
So says Carol Coletta, president of Chicago-based CEOs for Cities, a national network of urban leaders working to bring into being next generation cities. Coletta will speak at the West Michigan Regional Policy Conference this month on the importance of attracting and retaining Millennials.
“We need to capture that part of the American labor force that’s mobile, that can decide to live in Grand Rapids, Chicago or London, the people ages 25 to 34,” Coletta says.
The three trends that have swelled America’s labor force for the past 40 years are taking a major downturn: the entry of women into the workforce, the size of the Baby Boom generation, and the growing number of people with college degrees. The numbers of working women now roughly equal the number of men, Baby Boomers are retiring, and college degrees are now the rule rather than the exception.
Millennials are the future labor force and they’re attracted to vibrant cities. Some 64 percent of Millennials with college educations choose first the city where they want to live, and then look for a job.
“They want a city that’s clean and attractive, that’s number one,” Coletta notes. “Number two is a place where there is the type of housing they want that’s affordable. ...
“Smart people want to work with other smart people. Do you have enough smart people in your community to attract other smart people?”
Coletta says getting a city on the winning track is extremely difficult, but savvy civic leadership can recognize new trends and take action.
“We are trying to help urban leaders learn how to adapt quickly to the changes,” Coletta says.
Source: Carol Coletta, CEOs for Cities; Karen Hogan, Seyferth & Associates, Inc.
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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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