Is Michigan's comeback built to fail?

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - After a decade-long decline, it seemed manufacturing was all but dead in Michigan. Not anymore.

"Tonight, the American auto industry is back," President Obama said in the State of the Union speech in late January.

"The Big 3 is back," said Gov. Rick Snyder, adding the automakers "learned the lessons..about long term success."

Manufacturing is showing signs of life. Jobs are being added in the state, many due to the automotive turnaround. There are jobs in many different sectors.

In the short term, economists say, it's good for the state. But what happened to diversifying the Michigan economy?

The US Department of Labor reports Michigan added 26,000 manufacturing jobs in 2011, more than 10% of all the new manufacturing jobs nationwide.

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An interactive look at The Big 3 since 1900

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Among the beneficiaries is Gentex. Over the past two-and-a-half years, the parts supplier added 700 production positions and more than 350 tech jobs. They're still looking to fill another 100 slots.

"Auto is huge for us," Bruce Los, the Vice President of Human Resources at Gentex, told 24 Hour New 8. "The growth we have experienced in the last two years is almost totally automotive."

West Michigan-based staffing company EmploymentGroup placed 1304 workers who went on to become full-time employees at companies in 2011. Of the 1304 people, 63% were in the automotive business.

"The automotive business has lifted our economy," said EmploymentGroup CEO Mark Lancaster. "The Big 3 are doing great things, the transplants are doing great things as well."

Other sectors are benefitting from this Big 3 bump, from part suppliers to shipping to the financial services industry. Consider this: one job on the assembly line equals three other jobs to support it.

State Farm reports nearly 3,000 openings across the US and Canada, including 75 in Michigan - and many of those at their operations centers in Kalamazoo.

"We are seeing opporunities where we're actually adding agents, offices where we didn't have them before," said State Farm's Angie Rinock. "We do see opportunities to grow."

"It's the resurgence of the auto industry which is really causing all the ships to rise right now," said GVSU economics professor Paul Isely . "A lot of these other jobs - moving to alternative energy, to biotech - those are jobs that still have risk, are still developing."

The bankruptcy announcement of Uni-Solar in Greenville and its parent company in Auburn Hills are examples that the green energy jobs are still in the formative stage.

Old-school manufacturing is surging because, simply put, that's where the jobs are.

When he recently toured Gentex, Gov. Snyder insisted manufacturing is sustainable because of a new kind of workforce. Employers are relying on workers who are as high-tech as they are flexible.

Retraining programs, like ones offered by Grand Rapids Community College, stress that kind of flexibility. Administrators say it's also up to employers to help guide that training.

"This is what we're trying to get to as far as an employment base," said Dan Clark, the Dean of Academic Outreach. "We really have some hiring needs. We're looking to get started in hiring these individuals. How can we best set up to hire those individuals in our own company?"

Gentex Chairman/CEO Fred Bauer echoes those sentiments. He said job creators have to give their employees more than just on-the-job training. He said he's "never satisfied" with the talent in Michigan.

"People who make an investment in education, that only carries them so far. We can see the desire there. Our job is to mentor them to give them responsibility early."

The Employment Group's Lancaster said, "There is a huge push going toward cross-training, where you're doing multiple jobs. Going on the manufacturing floor, for example, working several different jobs on a shift."

Michigan still has a long way to go.

After shedding 430,000 manufacturing jobs in the last decade, the state's recent uptick isn't so much a comeback as it is a heartbeat. Economists aren't sure the rekindled romance with automobile manufacturing will lead to a healthy long-term relationship.

As economist Isely said, "Any problems that might happen with (autos) will affect us greatly."

Everyone agrees the state can't go back to its auto-agriculture-tourism model to sustain the economy. There is cautious optimism manufacturing will continue to grow in Michigan through a modern work-force.

In the meantime, though, we're just along for the ride.