This report tracked headlines printed in the Detroit Free Press from Jan. 1, 2000, to Dec. 31, 2020, to find stories about subsidized job deals that made the front page. Front page news stories in Michigan’s largest newspaper announced the creation of a total of 123,060 new jobs during this period. State reports show these deals created just 10,889 jobs in the end, a success rate of just 9%. Only one in 11 of the announced jobs in these front page stories ever came to fruition. The report details the results of the deals covered in these stories and explains why politicians continue to subsidize companies to create jobs despite this long track record of failure.

A one-page summary of the report is available here.