In his WSJ column today, William McGurn looks at the economic woes of Michigan, a state that has been sinking for several decades and now tops the nation in unemployment. The problem I have with the piece is that it gives too much aid and comfort to those who keep saying that the thing a sagging economy needs is more college graduates so that “knowledge industries” can grow.

McGurn writes, “The more open a state’s economy is to investment and entrepreneurship, the more employers there will be.” No argument there. Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s philosophy of super-sizing state government is a big reason why employers and workers are leaving. But here’s his next sentence: “And the more education a state’s citizens have, the more advanced the industries they can support.”

I can’t agree. Even in “knowledge industries,” most of the jobs don’t require advanced academic preparation (although employers may insist on college credentials as a screening device for some of them) and for those that do, we have a national labor market. Michigan doesn’t have to produce its own business professionals any more than it has to produce its own oranges.

Michigan needs to become a low-tax, low-regulation state that looks attractive to investors, who will train or recruit the workers they need. Putting the cart before the horse and trying to revitalize the economy by putting more students through college won’t help.