For small businesses, this fourth COVID wave feels different

Jan 24, 2022
For one thing, more people are sick. For another, government aid has dried up.
As omicron forces many workers to stay home, small business owners are grappling with how to stay open without federal aid.
Maja Hitii/Getty Images

Did department stores train people to be difficult customers?

Aug 13, 2021
Amanda Mull, a staff writer at The Atlantic, argues that department stores had a hand in building class consciousness.
Customers shop at Macys department store in New York on Black Friday, Nov. 27, 2020.
Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images

Biden's trade policy will prioritize workers' rights

Mar 2, 2021
Biden wants to use trade policy to advance racial equity, fight climate change and take on China’s "coercive" trade practices.
The new administration plans to strengthen U.S. competitiveness in global trade and encourage Americans to buy American-made products.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

China's big savers weather pandemic uncertainty

Jun 16, 2020
The communist government is not handing out cash to struggling workers. Many have to depend on themselves.
Zhang Lei manages an entertainment center in Shanghai, and for four months, he was not sure whether he would still have a job or not.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace

China's forced-out workers

Jun 3, 2020
Chinese workers complain that shortened hours or being told to resign are layoffs by another name.
A masked factory worker works on a machine line.
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How will we know when it's safe to go back to work? Workers and employers want to know.

May 11, 2020
Right now, OSHA doesn’t have a blanket legal standard for protecting workers from infectious diseases.
The medical definition of what's safe has been changing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Demanding better COVID-19 protections, workers nationwide plan walkouts

Amazon, Instacart and Whole Foods face backlash from workers concerned about safe working conditions.
Instacart employee Monica Ortega holds bags of groceries she picked up from a supermarket for delivery to a customer on March 19, 2020.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

How the shutdown is impacting federal workers

Dec 27, 2018
“The longer it lasts, the harder it’s going to be on myself and many, many others,” one contractor told us.
What are some potential obstacles that await Democrats as they prepare to implement the Inflation Reduction Act?
Nicholas Kamim/AFP/Getty Images

You can take this job and love it. Why? If you leave, it may be hard to find a new one.

Dec 7, 2018
Unemployment is lower than at any time in nearly half a century. Lots of jobs have been added this quarter. But today’s job report indicates that now more people are being laid off and filing for unemployment. As the labor market deals with tariffs and fluctuating financial markets, it’s hard to predict what might happen […]
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Small businesses struggle to find workers

Dec 6, 2018
There are more job openings right now than there are job seekers. That has small businesses scrambling to find qualified workers.
Christine and Patrick Hall, owners of Élan Flowers in Manhattan's Soho neighborhood.
Kristin Schwab/Marketplace