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I'd think to get outselves some tier 3s... the GR area would have to extend along the road to Standale and Allendale. Walker would be 1st tier, Standale 2nd, and then Allendale 3rd...

I hate to nitpick, but being from Walker originally, it drives me nuts when people refer to Standale as a city or township or the likes. Standale is a business district, plain and simple. Standale exists inside the city of Walker.

OK - nitpicking over. Continue interesting thread. :)

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I hate to nitpick, but being from Walker originally, it drives me nuts when people refer to Standale as a city or township or the likes. Standale is a business district, plain and simple. Standale exists inside the city of Walker.

OK - nitpicking over. Continue interesting thread. :)

The same could be said for Cutlerville, Comstock Park, and Jenison.

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The same could be said for Cutlerville, Comstock Park, and Jenison.

I don't know if that's the same comparison of Standale/Walker. Comstock Park has its own Post Office (49321). (Walker doesn't even have one). Would CP be considered Plainfield Twp then?

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The same could be said for Cutlerville, Comstock Park, and Jenison.
The difference is those places are generally in townships. Cutlerville in Gaines and Byron, Comstock Park in Alpine and Plainfield, and Jension in Georgetown.
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CP is in Both Plainfield and Alpine Twps. It's nothing more than a municipality. A school District and a post office. However CP has a long history. I'm not sure why they have never tried to incorporate it into a city. Alot of the residents there are second and third generation, and there is a very strong sense of community. It is also where MJLO graduated high school(But not where he'd say he's from).

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If CP is not a city, village, or township, it is not a municipality. It would be a CDP (census designated place), like Okemos or Haslett here in Lansing.
I would just call Comstock Park a "place", not necessarily a CDP. There are other, smaller places like Comstock Park, such as Marne and Bailey, that have their own post office and zip code but are not CDPs.
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The most telling stat for the job market is this:

While current total unemployment rates for Michigan have hovered between 6.5-7.5%, the unemployment rate for folks with college degrees or higher has consistently been at or below 2% for the last 2 years.

In other words, the majority of the unemployment number would be considered blue collar labor. The biggest struggle that I have seen is that people who have worked for a Tier 1 company and are used to making Tier 1 dollars are having a hard time adjusting to Tier 2/ Tier 3 dollars. They do not pay the same and the benefits are typcially weaker. Smaller companies do not have the ability to offer the same things as a large company like Ford can. It is not that there are not jobs to be had. It is just that expectations about what salary & benefits should be have not made the adjustment, yet.

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The most telling stat for the job market is this:

While current total unemployment rates for Michigan have hovered between 6.5-7.5%, the unemployment rate for folks with college degrees or higher has consistently been at or below 2% for the last 2 years.

And that if you're a college grad, there should be no problem finding a job (generally speaking).

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That would be correct, GRDad. It really comes down to setting proper expectations about salary, benefits, and (job) position descriptions. I can firmly state (being in the staffing industry) that the issue is not finding jobs; it is finding the right candidates. There simply are not enough qualified individuals that are available in the West Michigan market.

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That would be correct, GRDad. It really comes down to setting proper expectations about salary, benefits, and (job) position descriptions.

Althought I've been out of college for a few years now.. I can say that is VERY true. When I got out, I took a job for FAR less that I "expected"... Granted this was in 2001 at the very bottom of Tech hiring. I sucked it up and took a job, and have no moved on to FAR greener pastures.

I have friends who are very recent graduates and get interviews and offers but don't accept because "They didn't pay enough" :blink: . So now they work at the mall a few days a week, or in the restaruant/bar industry, not building "resume quality" experience, which in the end will limit them from ever getting the "dream job".

To me getting paid and building resume experience (no matter how "below me" it is) is better than sitting on my butt not getting paid, working a mall job, or hanging out at the beach 6 days a week (although that would be nice)

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Althought I've been out of college for a few years now.. I can say that is VERY true. When I got out, I took a job for FAR less that I "expected"... Granted this was in 2001 at the very bottom of Tech hiring. I sucked it up and took a job, and have no moved on to FAR greener pastures.

I have friends who are very recent graduates and get interviews and offers but don't accept because "They didn't pay enough" :blink: . So now they work at the mall a few days a week, or in the restaruant/bar industry, not building "resume quality" experience, which in the end will limit them from ever getting the "dream job".

To me getting paid and building resume experience (no matter how "below me" it is) is better than sitting on my butt not getting paid, working a mall job, or hanging out at the beach 6 days a week (although that would be nice)

It depends of the field. I found a full-time job in my field three months after I graduated and consider myself lucky, and the pay was about average. I guarantee if I had been offered a position when I graduated for relatively low pay for that field, I guarantee I would have happily accepted it without a second thought. Sitting around waiting for a dream job to fall in your lap, or turning down jobs because the pay isn't good enough is about the stupidest thing a young grad can do, unless they really like working at the mall.

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Not only that, but they had something like thirty consecutive earnings quarters before this cycle.

WWW has been on fire for a long time. Too bad I sold the stock during the downturn - now getting it back will be costly...

Their newest line of Merrell stuff is staying very cool too...I'd say they're in a good position to continue to succeed. Good company, great for West Michigan. Now if they'd just change their name to Woogle they might be in the news more often. ;)

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