Economy Jan 10 Unemployment’s slow drip: Top economists on the 2013 jobs record The unemployment rate in December 2012 was 7.9 percent. A year later, it's at 6.7 percent. But the employment picture, top economists agree, is not so simple. Photo courtesy of Matthew Staver/Bloomberg via Getty Images. The release of December's…
Nation Jan 10 Unemployment’s Slow Drip: Top Economists on the 2013 Jobs Record The release of December’s job report prompts us to look back at the year in unemployment. Earlier in 2013, a partial government shutdown delayed this fall’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. And for much of the year, each month’s…
Economy Jan 08 Who counts as poor in America? By Simone Pathe The official poverty rate is 15 percent, but that excludes many Americans. Photo courtesy of Joe Raedle/Getty Images. Homeless people without shelter from this week's frigid temperatures. Medicaid patients living out their days in a nursing home.
Economy Jan 08 Who Counts as Poor in America? The official poverty rate is 15 percent, but that excludes many Americans. Photo courtesy of Joe Raedle/Getty Images. Homeless people without shelter from this week’s frigid temperatures. Medicaid patients living out their days in a nursing home. Orphaned kids raised…
Nation Jan 03 How paid parental leave helps you, your newborn and the job market Both mothers and fathers took more time off to spend with their new babies when they had the right to paid family leave through the state of California. And for mothers, paid leave increases the chance they'll be working one…
Economy Jan 03 How Paid Parental Leave Helps You, Your Newborn and the Job Market With the start of 2014, new parents in Rhode Island are eligible for paid family leave — the third state, after California and New Jersey, where such a right has been codified and enforced. At the national level, the…
Nation Dec 27 What’s the state of economic inequality in America? With emergency benefits for the long-term unemployed expiring Saturday, what does economic inequality look like in America and how is it tied to unemployment and mobility? The NewsHour explores that topic with former labor secretary Robert Reich and the Manhattan…
Economy Dec 27 What’s the State of Economic Inequality in America? With emergency benefits for the long-term unemployed expiring Saturday, what does economic inequality look like in America and how is it tied to unemployment and mobility? The NewsHour explores that topic with former labor secretary Robert Reich and the…
Economy Dec 18 Inside the Sanctum: How the Fed’s Open Market Committee Decides What To Do In March of 1994, Paul Solman simulated a meeting of the Fed’s inner sanctum, the Open Market Committee, with former Fed members. The segment aired on March 23. The day before, the FOMC voted to raise short-term interest rates for…
Economy Dec 10 What is the Volcker Rule that five regulators just approved? All five financial regulatory agencies have approved a ban on big banks' proprietary trading, named for its chief proponent, former Federal Reserve chair Paul Volcker, center. Photo Ralph Alswang for Flickr user Third Way. In 2008, in the…