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Business Watch
Covering the intersection of business and policy, and informing Michigan employers and workers on the long road back from coronavirus.
Popular Articles
Articles
Trump’s tax audit and his bid for a Detroit casino
A Detroit casino wasn’t in the cards for Trump, undone by some of the same issues dragging down his presidential campaign today, including a battle over tax returns
7 things every Michigan business startup must know
Too many new entrepreneurs make the same, avoidable mistakes. In a state badly lagging in new businesses, executing a sound plan is critical. Our experts tell you how.
Michigan and the death of entrepreneurship
If the state doesn’t create a new generation of business owners, its future will remain hostage to the swings of the manufacturing sector
In Cheboygan, waiting for entrepreneurs to take a chance
The city’s downtown stores are shuttering. While some hope for a shift to a tourism-based economy, a port project is betting on new industry
Protesters a thorn during Trump’s Detroit economic speech
Before an unusually rowdy Detroit Economic Club audience Monday, the Republican presidential nominee calls for cutting business taxes, reducing regulations and letting parents fully deduct the average cost of childcare from their taxable income
Booming again: West Michigan’s economy is on a roll
The Grand Rapids region continues to surge ahead, adding jobs (if not high wages) across a wide area. Can its success be exported to the rest of Michigan
10 counties with lowest jobless rate
Slideshow photo gallery of the 10 Michigan counties with the lowest jobless rate as of April 201
10 counties with biggest increase in jobs
Slideshow photo gallery of the 10 Michigan counties with the biggest increase in jobs from 2012-201
10 counties with greatest growth in average weekly wages
Slideshow photo gallery of the 10 Michigan counties with the greatest growth in average weekly wages from 2011-2015
10 counties with highest weekly wages
Slideshow gallery of the 10 Michigan Counties with highest weekly wages in 201
Dow Chemical being courted by other states
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.
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
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?
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.