Michigan's $1.8 BILLION jobs initiative only created 602 jobs—that's $30 MILLION per job: report

During her terms in office, Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer offered billions in taxpayer-funded subsidies to select companies. Overall, she authorized $6.9 billion in subsidies during her tenure. Of that, $2.7 billion was offered to just eight major projects. Of the $1.8 billion of that figure that has been spent so far, there have only been 602 jobs created, breaking down to about $30 million spent per job, according to a new report from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. 

According to the report, the Whitmer administration said that the major subsidy projects would "create 20,595 jobs in Michigan. So far, these deals have created 602 jobs, just 3% of expectations. Of the $2.7 billion offered, $1.8 billion has been spent — transferred either to companies or to local economic development agencies." 

The eight deals that took up the $1.8 billion in taxpayer funding include projects for Fiat Chrysler, General Motors/LG Energy Solutions, a Ford expansion, Gotion, Our Next Energy, Billerud, a Ford plant in Marshall, and a project at the Mundy Township site. 

Source: Mackinac Center for Public Policy

The only deals that created jobs out of the eight major plays from the Whitmer administration were with the subsidies that went to General Motors and LG (408 jobs), Our Next Energy (48 jobs), and the Ford-Marshall deal (146 jobs). 

With a total of 602 jobs, the $1.8 billion breaks down to about $30 million spent to create each job.

“An assessment of major subsidy deals announced on the front page of the state’s largest newspaper between 2000 and 2020 found that companies produced just 9% of the jobs promised when deals were made. In other words, when public officials announce that an agreement with a company will create 1,000 jobs, only 90 jobs materialized, on average,” the report read.

However, Whitmer’s track record is worse than that 20-year average, with just 3 percent of the 20,595 jobs that were promised from the deal.

“The failure of these major deals may have lawmakers looking more skeptically at economic development deals like these. Indeed, the Legislature did not authorize any new business subsidies in 2025, the first time since at least 2000. Voters, too, should be more skeptical. The Whitmer administration’s track record shows that marquee economic development deals rarely work out as announced and that selective business subsidies fail to drive economic growth,” the report added.