The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) will eliminate roughly 15% of its positions through layoffs and the removal of unfilled jobs, the agency confirmed Thursday, Sept. 17.

The cuts hit the state's flagship business-recruitment agency at its downtown Lansing headquarters, 300 N. Washington Sq., where the MEDC has typically employed between 300 and 400 people. Crain's Detroit Business first reported the cuts. Spokeswoman Danielle Emerson would not say how many employees would lose their jobs, the Detroit Free Press reported.

MEDC CEO Quentin Messer Jr. said in a statement that the workforce reduction resulted from declining corporate revenue, not a reflection of staff contributions. He called the decision difficult but said the agency's mission remains unchanged.

The announcement came as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was in Taiwan on her fourth trade mission of 2026, accompanied by Messer.

Legislative defunding

Over the past two years, the Democratic-led Senate and Republican-led House have stripped funding from two key MEDC programs: the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) fund and the 21st Century Jobs fund, according to the Lansing State Journal.

State Rep. Ann Bollin, R-Brighton, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a Thursday, Sept. 17, statement that the layoffs represent the accountability Michigan residents need.

"The old approach of handing out massive incentives and hoping for the best isn't working," Bollin said. "Michigan needs a smarter, more accountable strategy."

Despite the cuts, the MEDC's executive committee approved an annual budget the week of Tuesday, Sept. 8, totaling roughly $114.4 million, one of the agency's largest in eight years, according to the Detroit News. That budget did not disclose the approved number of employees for the fiscal year.

Grant scandals

The layoffs follow months of scrutiny over how the MEDC handles taxpayer-funded grants.

Attorney General Dana Nessel filed 16 felony charges in May against Fay Beydoun, a Metro Detroit businesswoman accused of stealing from a $20 million state legislative grant administered by the MEDC. Beydoun sat on the agency's executive committee when she secured the grant for her company, Global Link International. Prosecutors allege no business ever relocated to Michigan through the company's efforts, while Beydoun drew a $550,000 annual salary, WILX reported Sept. 2.

Separately, the American Arab Chamber of Commerce fired its executive director, Bilal Hammoud, after roughly $1.1 million in state grant money could not be accounted for, according to the Detroit News. Nessel has called for abolishing the MEDC.

Oversight tightening

On Sept. 10, the MEDC executive committee voted to require the agency to report all active grants or contracts over $250,000. Robert McMahan, Kettering University president and executive committee member, said at that meeting that oversight without a current schedule of funding sources and termination terms is "oversight in name only." The report could come by November.

James Hohman, director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said in a Sept. 2 WILX interview that legislators share responsibility. "The MEDC does not write legislation. It was legislators who put these earmarks in toward specific recipients …" Hohman said.

The MEDC has not announced a specific date for completing the workforce reduction, saying only that cuts would come "in the coming days."