Business, Economics and Jobs
The Takeaway
July 04, 2008
Payrolls shrunk for the sixth straight month in June as more than 60 thousand jobs disappeared. The unemployment rate stayed steady in June at 5.5 percent, the highest level in four years. The Takeaway talks to New York Times economic reporter Louis Uchitelle about what we might expect next. Guest: Louis Uchitelle, New York Times economic reporter
Business
Update: Tent-living UN intern 'comes clean,' planned stunt to publicize intern conditions
PRI's The World
August 13, 2015
Updated
David Hyde, an unpaid intern at the UN offices in Geneva, Switzerland found a creative way to bypass the city's high cost of living. Instead of renting, he pitched a tent on Lake Geneva.
Business
Even fewer Americans than before are taking vacation
The Takeaway
August 19, 2015
Updated
Stuck at your desk? New research says 56 percent of Americans haven't taken a vacation in the past year — the highest percentage in four decades. A researcher cites "a convergence of factors."
Conflict
British long-haul trucker says migrants trying to climb aboard are 'no good, thieving scum'
PRI's The World
August 19, 2015
British trucker Vince Steptoe goes to extreme lengths to try and protect his truck as he drives from continental Europe to the UK. Steptoe feels like he's on the border patrol — his country's last defense.
Business
Amazon's harsh hours might not fly at some foreign operations
PRI's The World
August 19, 2015
There's been a lot of water cooler discussion this week about Amazon and The New York Times' investigative piece chronicling a brutally competitive work environment at the retail giant. Amazon is based in Seattle. But it operates in 32 nations. Would those demanding conditions work in its other locations?
Business
Gamifying the workplace: is it ethical?
Science Friday
September 05, 2015
Companies are attempting to use technology to measure, track and rate employee performance. Many, however, question whether the data tracking is effective or if it just reduces people to data points.
Economics
Why do we even have borders anymore?
The Takeaway
October 21, 2015
With thousands of refugees seeking safety in Europe and thousands of economic migrants looking for new opportunities from Germany to the United States, is it time to tear down those borders and recognize what a changing world has done to labor markets.
Economics
What Germany's got that America doesn't
PRI's The World
October 26, 2015
Other capitalist nations can offer the US a few lessons on how to shrink the widening income gap.
Conflict
What does human trafficking look like today? How do we stop it?
PRI's The World
November 09, 2015
I've traveled from New England to New York to Thailand to Vietnam to China’s southeast border to expose human trafficking routes and venues, and to bring attention to sex and labor exploitation. The Forum at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Tuesday took a closer look at this modern slave trade and its impact on public health worldwide, including in cities and rural communities across the USA.
Business
An investigation finds employers abusing a visa program for guest workers
The Takeaway
December 09, 2015
The H-2 visa program allows US employers to bring in workers from foreign countries if they can't fill the job with an American. But an investigation finds many abuses of the system.
Economics
The American middle class is shrinking
The Takeaway
December 13, 2015
For the first time in history, fewer than half of American households are in the middle class. The poorest segment and the richest segment are both growing.