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Covering the intersection of business and policy, and informing Michigan employers and workers on the long road back from coronavirus.
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Coronavirus air travel: a postcard from a Michigan to Tampa-bound plane
As Michigan creeps toward re-opening, Bridge Business Editor Paula Gardner shares what it’s like at Detroit Metro Airport and on a crowded airplane.
Michigan travel industry feels ‘pressures in all directions’
Tourism drives billions of dollars into the state’s economy. Now, after months of coronavirus shut-downs, it’s starting summer without answers on when it can attempt to do that again.
Northern Michigan stores scramble to greet tourists. Well, some stores.
Not everyone in Traverse City and other coastal vacation hubs are geeked at the arrival of tourists on Memorial Day weekend, days after Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer lifted restrictions on northern Michigan businesses.
6 lessons Michigan restaurants and bars can learn from Florida's reopening
Some Michigan restaurants can reopen this weekend, but COVID-19 is still changing the industry. These lessons from Florida, which reopened dining room access earlier this month, offer insight into how the new rules are reshaping business.
Coronavirus has spared the Keweenaw Peninsula but may kill summer tourism
Untouched until now by COVID-19, this Upper Peninsula tourist haven needs thousands of downstate visitors to keep its economy alive. The opening of restaurants and bars may not be enough to save many of its businesses.
Over 1.7 million applicants push Michigan unemployment system to the brink
State legislators got their first look at overall jobless claims Wednesday after two months of coronavirus layoffs. Eight percent of applicants still await payments.
Long-term changes proposed for Michigan’s unemployment system
With 1.3 million residents filing for jobless benefits, the system is under a spotlight. Now, some policy experts and Democrats say, it’s time to revise it. Business leaders aren’t sure.
Michigan restaurants give Gretchen Whitmer a roadmap for opening May 29
No opening date has been announced for the state’s restaurant industry, which lost over $1 billion in sales during April. Now the industry is outlining what it thinks it needs to do to reopen — and it wants the OK to start planning.
Michigan jobless claims top 1.1 million as state streamlines approvals
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order this week, changing the review process for benefits. The state hopes that step gets money to unemployed workers more quickly.
‘There is no playbook’ for Michigan’s businesses to navigate COVID-19
A look at first-quarter financial statements from 20 Michigan-based companies shows the first cracks from the pandemic — and raises questions about how deeply some of the state’s largest businesses will be affected.
Q&A with Brian Calley: 1 in 7 Michigan small businesses worry about survival
COVID-19 continues to pressure the state’s smallest operations, with 45 percent closed and 60 percent laying off at least one employee. Here is what an advocacy group says about the situation and what is needed next.
Michigan college towns were economically stable. Coronavirus changed that.
Cities like Ann Arbor and East Lansing benefit from the ‘economic engines’ of their state universities. Budget shortfalls, potential layoffs and more fallout from COVID-19 now threaten their financial balance, from students shopping in local stores to how many people they employ.
‘Scary times’ for Michigan restaurants won’t end when dining rooms reopen
Coronavirus is still battering the state’s restaurant industry, which lost $1.2 billion in sales in April and saw 75 percent of workers laid off. Switching to carry-out and opening for fewer patrons may not be enough for many to survive.
Some in Michigan make more from unemployment than work during coronavirus
Businesses in the northeast Lower Peninsula say some workers are not quite ready to return to their jobs, given the boost in income they receive from special federal and state funding during the pandemic lockdown.
How some Michigan counties are insulated against coronavirus unemployment
Certain places in Michigan are losing more jobs than others. It’s the same old story in a state where manufacturing still dominates the economy in some counties.
Bridge expands Michigan business/economy coverage with acclaimed journalist
Bridge expands its journalism with addition of a Business Watch section and adds the 2019 Michigan Press Association Journalist of the Year to lead coverage.
Michigan small businesses rocked by coronavirus turn to Congress for help
Programs set up to help businesses decimated by the coronavirus shutdown have run out of money or halted applications. One Michigan business owner thought his application for a portion of $349 billion in federal stimulus was set only to learn the money ran out.
‘Depression-level’ Michigan unemployment tops 1 million from coronavirus
Economists are struggling to find words to describe stunning job losses they’re seeing in the state, and they don’t know how many more will follow during the economic lockdown in a pandemic
Coronavirus could drain Michigan unemployment fund within months
The crush of 1 million new claims is rapidly depleting Michigan’s unemployment fund, which could force the state to borrow money. Jobless workers would still get checks, but Michigan may have to raise business taxes to repay the debt, slowing any recovery.
Michigan food supply firm innovates, finds new markets amid coronavirus crisis
Like many businesses, Frog Holler Produce in Ann Arbor faced coronavirus shutdown. Until they decided to “spin the wheel” and open new lines of business.