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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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With gas prices falling, should the state start collecting taxes for roads now?
November's tortuous road-funding deal called for a raise in gas taxes beginning next year to help repair crumbling roads. But why not raise taxes this year, when gas prices are cheap, easing the tax burden in 2017? Lansing, that’s why
The graying of Michigan farmers, and what they will leave behind
More than a third of Michigan farms are operated by farmers over 65. What happens when they retire?
Interactive map: How old are YOUR farmers?
As Michigan farmers age, farmland is more likely to be concentrated in the hands of fewer people in the future. See how farmers in your county are aging.
Michigan’s stumbling middle class
Think you’ve got it tougher your parents did? You’re right.
Interactive map: See how much the middle class has lost in your county
See how much ground the middle class has lost in every Michigan county since buying power peaked, in an interactive map that confirms what you’ve feared when you pay your monthly bills.
Lawmakers to big box stores: Pay your fair share of taxes!
Legislators want to stop big box retailers from using a controversial tax strategy that is cutting their property tax payments in half; a maneuver that small towns say is crushing their budgets and spreading to other businesses.
Jobs flooding to West Michigan, though wages still lag
West Michigan leads the way in Michigan jobs recovery, while the state as a whole still trails the nation.
Jobs get even scarcer in rural Michigan
Michigan rural counties struggle with jobs loss.
Slideshow: Worst counties for job growth (2005 - 2013)
Here are the worst counties for job growth in Michigan, 2005 - 2013
Slideshow: Best counties for job growth (2005 - 2013)
Here are the best counties in Michigan for job growth, 2005 - 2013
Slideshow: Worst counties for total jobs added (2005 - 2013)
Here are the top ten worst counties for total jobs performance, 2005 - 2013
Slideshow: Best counties for total jobs added (2005 - 2013)
Here are the top ten best counties for total jobs performance, 2005 - 2013.
Michigan’s jobs rebound also brings a lower paycheck
Michigan, a pioneer of the American middle class, is adding jobs but wages have fallen below the national average in the past decade.
Slideshow: Best counties for wage gains (1990 - 2013)
Here are the best counties for average wage gains, adjusted for inflation, from 1990 - 2013
Slideshow: Worst counties for wage losses (1990 - 2013)
Here are the worst counties for average wage losses, adjusted for inflation, from 1990 – 2013
Slideshow: Best counties for wages (September 2014)
Here are the best counties for average weekly wages as of September, 2014
Slideshow: Worst counties for wages (September 2014)
Here are the worst counties for average weekly wages, as of September, 2014
State struggles to boost lives of the working poor
Four-in-10 Michigan families can’t afford life’s basics, according to a report by the United Way. The report contends that helping struggling workers will ultimately benefit the state as a whole.
Up North, isolation impedes health care for seniors
In far-flung rural Michigan, hardly anything is close by. It can be a problem for those in need of medical attention.
Poverty in paradise: Halting the exodus of young workers from northern Michigan
After growing up in Pure Michigan, millennials say they must leave a land they love to fulfill their career ambitions. Second of two parts.