The organization that works around the clock advocating for the Michigan business community is sharing preliminary results from a survey sent to members at mid-week, and the numbers are pretty lopsided.
The Michigan Chamber sent the survey to chamber members across the state on Wednesday, April 8th, and has rolled out the preliminary returns following that request for input.
Jim Holcomb, Senior Executive Vice President for the Michigan Chamber says, “Chamber members have consistently stated that they support safety first, but also believe that our workforce cannot be sidelined indefinitely without causing long-term damage to our economy.”
The State Chamber represents approximately 5,000 job providers, that employ over a million residents throughout all 83 counties. The Chamber’s survey was intended to provide timely and helpful information from job providers to the Legislature and the Administration on the impact of the current public health emergency on the state’s economic health.
Here is the response to three questions that were asked:
Q: What do you need to restart or bring employees back?
- 70.5-percent said For the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” Executive Order to be lifted.
Q: Do you support a phased-in approach to restarting economic activities? For example, should low-risk industries be able to restart quicker than should high-risk industries?
- 69-percent said Yes
- 9-percent said No
Q: If the “Stay Home” Order must be extended beyond April 30, do you think it should apply to the whole state or should it be based on hot spots/high-risk geographic regions?
- 57-percent said it should be geographically based/limited to high risk regions of the state
- 21-percent said it should apply to the whole state
Michigan Chamber President & CEO Rich Studley says, “State government must protect both public health and jobs. If the statewide Stay At Home order is to be extended, we strongly urge Governor Whitmer to allow all employers that can operate safely, to reopen. State government must act now for our citizens and businesses.”
