Michigan unemployment

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.

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.

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.

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.

"Instead of laying people off, why not assign them to the Unemployment Insurance Agency?" asks a state representative who says her office is fielding hundreds of calls from people who can't file claims or get answers.

The Detroit-based hospital system is the latest in a string of medical providers to announce deep staff cuts as the coronavirus pandemic dries up revenue streams.

Michigan state budget coffers have been hit hard by the coronavirus, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's staff begin sending emails to state employees Wednesday announcing 10-day layoffs.

Beaumont Health, the state’s largest health system, blamed the dramatic cuts on losses incurred during the pandemic, which forced it to cut revenue-generating procedures to handle the surge. CEO temporarily cuts his own pay 70 percent.

More than 1 in 4 Michigan residents are worried about being able to put food on their table, and more than half of all laid-off or furloughed workers are unsure how they’ll feed their families, according to a new statewide poll conducted amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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.

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

Local governments across Michigan are beginning to lay off and furlough workers as they brace for a “perfect storm” of increased spending demands and revenue shortfalls resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic that has ground the economy to a halt. The state — facing its own projected $7 billion hole — is in no position to help.

From metropolitan health systems to independent rural hospitals, hospital budgets are taking big financial hits as surgeries and other money making medical procedures are put on hold.

Despite adding capacity, food banks throughout Michigan are running out of food, crushed by the hunger created by the pandemic’s economic strain.

SLIDESHOW: Hundreds of cars descend on downtown Lansing to protest Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-home order. Protesters say the new limits go too far and infringe on liberties. Whitmer says they’re necessary to save lives.

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.

As hospitals in COVID-19 hotspots are in a bidding war for critical care nurses while laying off others, experts say a mismatch of labor needs and supply during the pandemic has serious consequences.

Dwindling surgeries at McLaren Macomb blamed for layoffs of nurses as the coronavirus impacts the finances of hospital systems around Michigan.

The end of Michigan’s coronavirus nightmare may be in sight, but ‘we need to get this right,’ Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Monday. The business shutdown from the virus has left more than 1 million residents jobless.

As the coronavirus decimates hospital revenues, the Detroit Medical Center notifies 60 lab assistants and more they are being laid off, while McLaren is exploring cost-cutting measures and furloughs.