Michigan’s economy is beginning to show signs of strength. Although our unemployment rate is still one of the highest in the nation, it is inching downward. These are good signs, but we must be aware of potential shortfalls if we want our state to keep moving forward.

One roadblock to Michigan’s recovery is our single-industry, manufacturing-based economy. America is moving toward a “knowledge-based” economy. Many of the jobs that will be created in the next few years will be in the so-called STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and math. 

Michigan is currently experiencing a shortage of STEM professionals, and the situation is expected to get worse. STEM jobs are growing at 1.7 times the rate of other professions. By 2018, Michigan is estimated to have 274,000 more STEM-related positions than qualified professionals to fill them.

Nowhere is this need more pressing than in southeast Michigan. Our region has always been defined by automobile manufacturing.  However, as the Big Three automakers gradually lost market share, Metro Detroit lost jobs, population and its tax base. Today, our core cities are struggling to attract new businesses and a new generation of young urban professionals.

To help fill this talent shortage and make Michigan a more competitive state, I introduced House Resolution 316. This legislation urges President Obama and Congress to approve a pilot program allocating 50,000 specialized visas to attract skilled professionals to Michigan, and specifically Detroit, over a period of five years.

These visas, known by the designation EB-2, are designed to foster employment-based permanent residency in the U.S. This category of visa, created by the federal Immigration Act of 1990, includes “individuals who, because of their exceptional ability in the sciences, arts or business will substantially benefit the national economy, cultural or educational interests, or welfare of the United States, and whose services in the sciences, arts, professions or business are sought by an employer in the United States.”

HR 316 asks the federal government to provide 5,000 visas in the first year, 10,000 in the next three years and 15,000 in the fifth year to foreign-born professionals willing to relocate to the city of Detroit. Our region is slowly rebuilding after decades of decline, but we need to do more. Attracting skilled professionals to move to Detroit will reduce the city’s unemployment, add a new dynamic to the local economy and increase consumer spending, which in turn will drive more job growth.

This is not to say that we only want immigrants to fill our STEM jobs. I am committed to increasing the number of STEM graduates from Michigan schools and working hard to retain our current workforce of professionals with advanced degrees to help build our economy. But to fuel our comeback in this global economy, we must exploit every opportunity to attract top talent. 

To that end, I have also been working to leverage funds from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation for expansion of the American Arab Chamber’s Tejara Global Business Development Center. The success of Tejara’s stated mission of creating an entrepreneurial international trade hub for Michigan is contingent upon an infusion of well-educated immigrant and minority populations.

Remember that America is a nation of immigrants. Henry Ford was a first-generation American whose entrepreneurship changed Detroit, America and the world forever. Meijer, one of the nation’s largest grocery store chains, was founded by an immigrant here in Michigan.

We cannot afford to let these opportunities go unfilled, for to do so would be extremely detrimental to Michigan’s economy. Without an attractive talent pool, businesses will locate in other states where they can find the skilled professionals they need, and our state will continue to lag behind the rest of the nation.

As always, I am committed to working for the people of Detroit and Dearborn to make these cities good places to live, work and raise a family. I will do everything in my power to attract new businesses and workers, whether they are foreign or domestic, to our city. I am certain that Metro Detroit will soon become the economic powerhouse it once was.g

– Harvey Santana is a state legislator serving Michigan’s 9th House District. Santana is currently running for a third term.