Paul Solman answers questions from NewsHour viewers and web users on business and economic news most days on his Making Sen$e page. Here's Monday's query: Name: Paul Menzel Question: I understand that it is more profitable for…

One brief comment on the jobs numbers. The net addition of 216,000 jobs, from the so-called payroll survey, is respectable. But the "household survey" reports roughly the same number of unemployed Americans: 13.5 million. You can't tell a lot from…

Paul Solman answers questions from NewsHour viewers and web users on business and economic news most days on his Making Sen$e page. Here's Wednesday's query: Name: Alex Question: Maybe it's my background as a college instructor (and…

Paul Solman answers questions from NewsHour viewers and readers about business and economic news most days on his Making Sen$e page. Here's Monday's query: Name: Dr. Gene Audette Question: Every year it's prognostications, prognostications. But seldom do…

On the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, NewsHour economics correspondent Paul Solman answered a reader's comment about the need to remember what happened that day. Richard R. Palmer: March 25 is the 100th anniversary of the Triangle…

Updated March 25, 2011 at 1:33 p.m. with a fixed link to the Slate interactive. Income inequality has changed over time: today the richest 1 percent of Americans hold about 24 percent of U.S. wealth. But almost a century ago…