Latest Stories

Latest Stories

Increasing use of AI in job resumes is a mixed blessing

Aug 14, 2024
Jobseekers find it easier to write resumes to multiple employers with AI, but those hiring have more applications to sort through.
The share of jobseekers using generative AI increased to more than 50% in 2024, according to Julia Pollak at ZipRecruiter.
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Small businesses are just as grumpy about the economy as consumers

Aug 13, 2024
Optimism has increased, but it's still below a 50-year average, a National Federation of Independent Business survey shows.
For a lot of business owners, this high inflation is stressful to navigate, says Holly Wade of the NFIB.
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Home Depot CEO cites "macroeconomic uncertainty" in earnings report

Aug 13, 2024
The company says customers are deferring big renovation projects because of high interest rates and economic worries.
When consumers spend less because they’re concerned the economy might not do so well, that can cause the economy to not do so well.
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Labor costs fell in July. That may be what the Fed's been looking for.

Aug 13, 2024
The decline helped bring the annual rate of inflation at the wholesale level down to 2.2%.
The decline in labor costs means a decline in jobs, or wages, or both. That's bad news for workers, but will it encourage the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates? Above, Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
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Why Canada has become a critical supplier of crude oil to the U.S.

Aug 13, 2024
It's an international love story of sorts, featuring "thick, heavy, goopy crude oil."
"We're now in this position where we have these very high-tech refineries that can process the really heavy crude,” says Ryan Kellogg with the University of Chicago.
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U.S. debt just hit $35 trillion. Is it putting the global economy at risk?

Aug 13, 2024
If you add up government debt around the world, it totals $91 trillion. More than a third of it comes from one country: The U.S.
The national debt has ballooned to cosmic proportions.
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How the snack industry is responding to Ozempic

Aug 13, 2024
Food and beverage developers are working overtime on new products that appeal to the changing tastes of obesity drug users.
People taking appetite-suppressing treatments like Ozempic are more likely to eat small servings of high-protein foods rather than large portions of salty snacks and baked goods.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Getting creative in the competition for health care workers

Aug 13, 2024
Competition for medical workers can be fierce, requiring incentives like housing assistance or student loan repayments to recruit new hires.
As wages creep up in other industries, health care has to compete. Above, a nurse visits a patient at her home.
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What if tips weren't taxed?

Aug 13, 2024
Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris support eliminating federal taxes on tips. It might attract votes from tipped workers, who make up 2.5% of the American labor force. But what would it mean for tax policy?
The Tax Foundation estimates that eliminating income taxes on tips would cost at least $107 billion in revenue over 10 years.
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Why the so-called “left behind” bloc might be doing better than you think

The Economist digs into data regarding those who lost their jobs in manufacturing.
Above, the Gautier Steel Mill in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in September 2016. "The traditional Rust Belt states ... actually have had lower unemployment rates than the national average," said The Economist's Zanny Minton-Beddoes.
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