A Bright Spot for Michigan

ABC News' Tahman Bradley Reports from Birmingham, Michigan On the day Michigan residents celebrate their victory over Tennessee and Wisconsin for the chance to house GM’s new small car plant, General Electric brought more good news to the Wolverine State. GE announced today that it will open an advanced manufacturing technology and software center in Van Buren Township, Wayne County, creating 1,200 jobs.  The company is also investing  more than $100 million to build a manufacturing lab on the site.  GE expects to have the 1,200 workers hired by the end of this year.     
  At a press conference at the Detroit Economic Club, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm called today a great day in the effort to reshape Michigan’s economy.
“These jobs and the jobs that General Motors is announcing today, and the jobs related to batteries, and the jobs related to film, and the jobs related to wind turbines, all of that is part of the strategy to diversify Michigan’s economy and move in a broader way.” 
The GE jobs will be high tech engineering positions that Gov. Granholm said will pay more than $100,000 a year.
GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said his company is making a long term commitment to Michigan by opening the center and hinted over time GE might higher even more workers in the state.  He also predicted that other companies like suppliers and builders will follow GE to Michigan putting even more people to work.
In an interview with ABC News after the event, Immelt said he's not worried that the company will have a difficult time finding workers to match the high skilled jobs because of the strong universities in the state.