Business Watch

Covering the intersection of business and policy, and informing Michigan employers and workers on the long road back from coronavirus.

Michigan unemployment benefits expanded to 59 weeks for some workers

October 1, 2020 | Paula Gardner

Michigan’s unemployed to get $900 more. System glitches remain

September 18, 2020 | Paula Gardner

Michigan benefited from COVID stimulus and jobless aid. Now what?

October 9, 2020 | Paula Gardner

New grocery in Grand Rapids is about more than food. It’s about equity too.

October 15, 2020 | Paula Gardner

Articles

Dow Chemical being courted by other states

May 18, 2016 | Ron French, Lindsay VanHulle

If more business-friendly states come calling, can Midland hold on to thousands of high-paying jobs? A test of Gov. Snyder’s economic development strategy.

People need jobs. Factories need workers. Busing, a love story.

May 10, 2016 | Chastity Pratt

A partnership is connecting poor, hard-to-employ Flint residents with a factory hungry for workers in Howell. How a public-private transportation program is helping both sides thrive.

In an improving economy, Michigan workers’ part-time blues

April 5, 2016 | Ted Roelofs

Even as Michigan's unemployment rate falls below 5 percent, some 300,000 workers seeking full-time jobs are stuck with part-time paychecks

With gas prices falling, should the state start collecting taxes for roads now?

January 14, 2016 | Mike Wilkinson

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

November 5, 2015 | Ron French

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?

November 5, 2015 | Bridge Staff

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

August 13, 2015 | Ron French

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

August 13, 2015 | Bridge Staff

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!

August 11, 2015 | Chastity Pratt

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.