Michigan promised more than 20,000 new jobs through eight major corporate subsidy packages worth $2.7 billion. Instead, it got 602 positions after spending $1.8 billion in taxpayer funds, according to an analysis published July 6, 2026, in The Detroit News by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The findings illustrate what the analysis calls a clear pattern: subsidy agreements drain public coffers while failing to create the employment they promise.
The numbers reveal a stark gap between announcement and reality. General Motors and LG Energy Solution received over $600 million to construct a battery facility and electric truck plant that would employ 4,000 workers, but reported just 408 jobs four years after signing the agreement. Chinese battery component maker Gotion was promised to generate 2,350 positions but produced none, even as the state spent $24 million preparing a factory site that was never developed. Battery manufacturer Our Next Energy collected $70 million and created only 48 jobs. The state also allocated $201 million to prepare land near Flint for a semiconductor producer that never arrived. Auto industry employment in Michigan dropped by 14,600 jobs between January 2019 and May 2026, contradicting Governor Gretchen Whitmer's 2022 claim that the state had added nearly 25,000 auto jobs during her tenure.
The analysis points out that Whitmer's track record fits a longstanding pattern of underperformance. A review of all major state deals from 2000 to 2020 found that companies delivered just 9% of the jobs announced when agreements were struck. The current round of subsidies has performed even worse, though it remains within the same range. The report notes that similar large-scale subsidy failures have occurred nationwide, citing Boeing's deal in Washington, Foxconn's agreement in Wisconsin, and Cerner's package in Missouri as examples of major commitments that fell short of expectations.
Politicians favor these subsidies because they can declare economic progress regardless of whether employment actually materializes, the analysis explains. Announcements based on projected jobs allow officeholders to claim credit for growth that hasn't happened, while the actual economic data tells a different story. Michigan's employment grew by only 1% during Whitmer's term, ranking as the eighth-worst performance among all states despite the governor approving more major subsidy deals than any other state leader since 2019. The report argues that voters are being misled when they treat press releases from economic development agencies as evidence of genuine economic trends rather than examining the state's real employment performance.
The analysis recommends that the next governor and policymakers across the country learn from these failures and stop chasing headlines through subsidy deals. Attorney General Dana Nessel has indicated she'll attempt to recover the $24 million spent on the Gotion site. The takeaway is blunt: subsidy agreements cost taxpayers but don't deliver jobs, and elected officials should shift focus to less flashy policies that actually improve economic outcomes instead of deals that generate publicity but produce vacant fields and empty buildings.