Even big schools like MSU are closing cafeterias, altering menus to items that require less labor and asking administrators to help serve. Even the hallowed soft-serve ice cream machine is not immune. Welcome to college life in 2021.
Business Watch
Covering the intersection of business and policy, and informing Michigan employers and workers on the long road back from coronavirus. Our Michigan Economic Dashboard shows key metrics that show how the state is performing.
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Michigan hospitals eye nurses in other countries to fill COVID shortage
Henry Ford Health System expects 150 nurses from the Philippines to start work in 2022, but it could use more. Other medical centers say they will explore talent searches overseas, which means navigating immigration policies.
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Whitmer: Michigan can take lead in electric vehicle highway, job training
The governor on Wednesday announced a plan to combat ‘range anxiety.by making Lake Michigan an electric vehicle-ready highway, and a separate initiative to train Michigan workers for new jobs.
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5 things on the minds of Michigan businesses eyeing Biden vaccine mandate
Already dealing with pandemic fallout, businesses now must navigate the tricky economic and political waters of a federal vaccine-or-test requirement.
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Frustration and fear linger as Flat Rock confronts Ford factory's gas leak
The southeast Michigan city has been under a state of emergency while investigators try to understand the circumstances and lapses that led to the spill, and assess any lingering health risks from the chemicals entering Flat Rock’s sewer system.
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Michigan unemployment director, under fire, pledges ‘user friendly’ upgrades
You failed,’ a lawmaker tells the acting director of the Unemployment Insurance Agency, which has had a host of problems during the pandemic.
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Michigan’s largest public companies ‘encouraged’ by second-quarter rebound
Supply shortages and fewer workers are stretching some of the largest companies in the state. But overall, most have returned — or burned past — 2019 sales totals for the second three months of the year.
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Michigan appliance customers find delay and frustration. It won’t end soon.
“People are at their wits’ end” when they learn how the pandemic has impacted what refrigerators, washers or other products are available, and how soon the store can get them. Customer flexibility can speed the process.
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500,000-plus jobless Michigan workers brace to lose unemployment benefits
Federal unemployment benefits are expiring Sept. 4 in the state, ending payments worth about a combined $283 million to workers not eligible for Michigan’s regular unemployment program.
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Michigan unemployment system still needs fixing, critics tell lawmakers
A June letter confused and terrified nearly 700,000 jobless residents who were told they might have to repay benefits, according to testimony Tuesday at a House Oversight Committee meeting. It’s just the latest misstep by the state unemployment agency.