A study examined barriers to employment for rural Michigan residents, especially during an economic boom. Four focus groups conducted in four nonmetropolitan growth counties in Michigan indicated that educated, skilled workers were seeking to enter the labor force or to work more hours, even though community leaders, newspapers, and job developers…

The study derives a model of the unemployment insurance (UI) system and its relationship to the labor market, estimates it with data from the Detroit Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area, and evaluates its potential use to forecast UI benefit amounts, UI insured unemployment, and UI exhaustions. It further uses the model to analyze policy issues…