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Samantha Fields

Senior Reporter

SHORT BIO

Samantha Fields is a senior reporter at Marketplace.

She’s particularly interested in how the economy affects people’s everyday lives, and a lot of her coverage focuses on economic inequality, housing and climate change.

She’s also reported and produced for WCAI and The GroundTruth Project, the “NPR Politics Podcast,” NPR’s midday show, “Here & Now,” Vermont Public Radio and Maine Public Radio. She got her start in journalism as a reporter for a community paper, The Wellesley Townsman, and her start in radio as an intern and freelance producer at “The Takeaway” at WNYC. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Latest Stories (574)

Extra $300 in federal jobless benefits is making a difference, but is it enough?

Jan 25, 2021
“It's not as good as the $600, obviously, but it's better than nothing."
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

Rural food banks find ways to deliver during pandemic

Jan 22, 2021
For many low-income people in rural areas, simply getting to a grocery store or food bank can be a barrier to getting enough to eat.
Food price inflation is causing some food banks to consider their costs and tighten where needed.
Karen Ducey/Getty Images

Unemployment insurance is broken. What would it take to fix it?

Jan 20, 2021
Making the unemployment system a federal program could help reduce some of the huge racial disparities that currently exist.
Some economists are saying it is time for the federal government to take over the unemployment insurance system.
Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images

Rental assistance is on the way, but will it come in time?

Jan 18, 2021
Right now the only thing keeping millions of renters in their homes is the CDC’s eviction moratorium, which expires Jan. 31.
Demonstrators march in the street during the Cancel Rent and Mortgages rally on June 30, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Pandemic could cause twice as much homelessness as the Great Recession

Jan 14, 2021
COVID-related unemployment could cause about 600,000 people to become homeless over the next three years, according to a report from the Economic Roundtable.
Squares painted on the ground encourage homeless people to social distance at a city-sanctioned encampment in San Francisco.
Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

How baby bonds could help close the racial wealth gap

Jan 13, 2021
A proposed $1,000 savings account for every baby born in the U.S. could improve future outcomes for an entire generation of families.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, above, and Sen. Cory Booker are pushing for baby bonds to help close the racial wealth gap.
Tom Williams/AFP via Getty Images

Will Capitol attack hike security costs for Biden inauguration?

Jan 11, 2021
The pandemic likely saved money for the Secret Service budget during the 2020 campaign.
Workers reinforce a crowd-control fence around Capitol Hill with concrete barriers Thursday, after a pro-Trump mob broke into the U.S. Capitol.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Will January bring more hiring?

Jan 8, 2021
The latest COVID relief package will have a positive effect on the economy as soon as this month.
A waiter at the outdoor dining area of a restaurant in New York last year.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

New rule lets companies treat some employees as gig workers

Jan 7, 2021
Usually there are lots of benefits and protections that come with being an employee instead of a gig worker, like being paid the minimum wage.
An Uber Eats delivery worker rides an electric scooter in Manhattan in 2020.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Marriage and divorce are way down, study suggests

Jan 6, 2021
Divorce is expensive, and many couples may not have the economic resources right now to split up.
Divorce is expensive, and right now, a lot of people don't have that money to spend.
Morakot Kawinchan via Getty Images