 need a job the state of michigan is hiring just so you know  not all parts of the state are down and out  the michigan department of human services is hiring more than 500 highly qualified graduates to work in children s protective foster care adoption juvenile and home licensing services i am for the moment a consultant working in a state office and there have been no staff reductions here there have been a few early retirements but those positions have been filled by new hires plus this department is looking to hire several more employees in the near future so the number of people working here is actually increasing while the population of michigan decreases maybe its like the myth of classroom size the smaller the ratio of students to teachers the better the education maybe since our population is shrinking the government to nongovernment ratio will mean better service so as long as people keep leaving the state we re in for some world class service i can t say that all departments are growing and i know of others with hiring freezes and pay cuts i suppose some of it depends on how much political clout the department heads have but empty cubes are few and far between here  