Most people don't have a clue about the building on the corner of South Street and South Westnedge Avenue or about what happens there.
There isn't a sign outside the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research that tells passersby that it is an internationally known think tank.
Yet the institute's clientele ranges from organizations and governmental units from Korea and Australia to Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor. And this year it is celebrating 60 years of studying the causes of unemployment.
``Our core mission remains to find practical solutions to employment issues,'' said Randy Eberts, executive director of the Upjohn Institute. ``We try to be low-key. We're best when we let what we do speak for us.''
Low-key describes the celebration the organization has had to commemorate its anniversary. A dinner in October attended by more than 200 to honor the Institute and its work was the extent of the public anniversary observances.
Despite its behind-the-scenes approach, the Institute is a valuable resource.
``When we receive demonstration funds or undertake an initiative, any time there is something of a technical nature, the Upjohn Institute is the first (organization) we think of when we need that help,'' said Marcia Black Watson, administrator for the Council for Labor and Economic Growth, part of the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth.
The Upjohn Institute's cadre of 10 economists, augmented by a staff of 11 research assistants and supported by a staff of 21 who work in the institute's library, accounting, publications and computer-tech support areas, have helped establish employment programs in countries like South Korea, Serbia, Hungary and Poland.
``We have as many, if not more, labor economists than most universities do,'' Eberts said.
In November, 2003, the institute completed a $7 million expansion. It doubled to about 42,000 square feet the size of a building at 300 S. Westnedge Ave. that serves as the Institute's headquarters.
``When that building was built in 1965, we had 16 people, and when we moved out so the expansion could be done, we had 35,'' Eberts said. ``We needed more space and also wanted to have more conference rooms and additional offices for visiting scholars.''
The institute also operates programs out of houses at 515 South St. and 222 S. Westnedge Ave. that together comprise about 25,000 square feet.
Its senior staff of economists, nine of whom have doctorates in economics and specialties in labor economics, travel frequently throughout the United States and the world assisting other countries with employment issues.
Recently, the World Bank invited an Upjohn Institute economist to China to focus on worker dislocation as that country shifts from a more public- to private-oriented labor and business climate.
``The World Bank brought us into China to conduct a survey to see who the dislocated workers are in smaller cities and what their needs are and analyze the data to see how these workers fit in to the new jobs being created,'' Eberts said.
Started with a farm
The Institute's far-reaching tentacles would likely be mind-boggling for W.E. Upjohn. Upjohn invented the friable pill, which gave birth to The Upjohn Co., now part of Pfizer Inc.
The inspiration for the institute grew out of concern Upjohn had for workers who lost their jobs during the Great Depression. Just months before his death in 1932, he purchased 1,600 acres of land along Gull Road, where Pfizer's animal-health division is now located, so laid-off workers could grow food for their families.
In 1945, with funds from a trust set up by Upjohn, they established the W.E. Upjohn Institute.
In addition to research, the institute's Employment Management Services Division, with 16 employees, administers all of the federal and state employment programs for Kalamazoo and St. Joseph counties.
The institute's research division has an annual budget of about $5 million, the bulk of which comes from Upjohn's endowment. About 20 percent of the budget comes from fees generated by externally funded projects.
A free agent
Eberts said the endowment allows the institute to be an ``unbiased broker of information'' through the development of relationships and the publication of books on various areas of employment. The funding mechanisms for the Upjohn Institute enable its researchers to provide objective analyses to clients, he said.
The Institute's economists are also asked frequently to provide testimony during congressional hearings.
Think tanks such as the Brookings Institute and the Urban Institute differ from the Upjohn Institute in that they rely on outside contracts for their core funding.
``The endowment allows us to do things that are important,'' Eberts said. ``We're not like so many think-tanks where the answer is given before the question is asked.''
Eberts said there are no plans to grow the organization, because its leadership wants to maintain an independent funding stream free from outside interests that could skew its research. He said being in Kalamazoo is an advantage because it's in the nation's heartland, far enough away from Washington, D.C.'s ``inside the beltway'' politicking.
``We have some of the top labor economists in the country, who have influence around the world,'' Eberts said. ``We are able to step back and not be influenced by anyone else.''
Email This Page!