Being from Michigan, most of the people that would be getting layoffs, have already been for months. It's kinda nice, because we're ahead of the curve a little bit. Our worker base is changing to be much more dynamic than simply auto manufacturing and related tech. There are more biochemical jobs coming here related to agriculture. Google has set up shop locally. Our entire state economic policy is fully devoted to diversity in our job economy. We've been suffering for years, and the rest of the country still hasn't caught up. lol. 10.8% unemployment in Michigan.
A lot of that number is from people waiting to go back to work for the auto industry. I'd imagine another 3% would be tacked on, except they decided to step away from their careers and do something else. I'm a pretty common example.
I worked as a quality engineer for a while, got laid off over the summer and finally got into the IT job I wanted. My company is still small (1400-ish), but have had huge gains year after year, over 50%. Our scope for expansion, even in the current economic downturn, will not be fulfilled for at least 5 years. This is the kind of company that Michigan really doesn't have. With everything being so centric around auto, these types of companies are generally outsourced from other states, and overseas. We're 100% Michigan here, and now WE are the ones outsourcing to other states (and sometimes Canadia).
I can think of at least a dozen other industries that simply do not exist here, and are fully brought in from elsewhere. These are the things that I feel states need to look at, and fulfill, to be prosperous. There's always a premium when you deal with national companies over local ones. When the balance falls to the side of nation-wide companies, the local economy becomes dependant, and will ultimately fail. Manufacturing will still be a large part of the economy here, but eventually those 10% will have to realize, it's not going to be automotive that they'll be working.