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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)

No interest, no payments required on federal student loans until 2021

Aug 25, 2020
The Department of Education just extended temporary relief for borrowers with federally held student loans.
Rattankun Thongbun via iStock/Getty Images Plus

How to vote by mail in the general election

Aug 24, 2020
You can vote by mail in every state, but some have made it easier than others.
Megan Jelinger/AFP via Getty Images

What's it like publishing your first book in a pandemic?

Aug 18, 2020
The pandemic has created “a very challenging environment” for first-time authors.
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

What does Trump's order on student loans actually mean for borrowers?

Aug 13, 2020
The president over the weekend signed a memorandum extending the current payment pause and interest waiver for most federal student loans through the end of the year.
Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

Risk of deepening hunger crisis as SNAP exemption expires

Aug 11, 2020
When the pandemic began, the federal government made it easier for states to approve people for SNAP, but that flexibility is ending this month, raising concerns that more people will go hungry.
There is likely to be another big spike in SNAP enrollment now that Washington has let federal unemployment benefits expire.
Scott Heins/Getty Images

Can I file a backdated unemployment claim?

Jul 31, 2020
If you’ve struggled to get through to the unemployment office, you should still be able to file and get weeks or months of back pay.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Months into pandemic, many still not getting unemployment

Jul 29, 2020
Some who have lost jobs because of COVID still have not filed for unemployment benefits, even though they’re eligible.
For every 10 people who successfully filed for unemployment benefits, an April study found that three or four were unable to get through, and two didn’t even try because it was too difficult.
John Sommers II/Getty Images

Need for food stamps surges with pandemic

Jul 27, 2020
More than six million people signed up for food stamps in just three months, more than in the first 17 months of the Great Recession.
Scott Heins/Getty Images

Rent relief funds quickly overwhelmed by need

Jul 22, 2020
In Los Angeles, more than 220,000 people applied to the city’s rent relief fund, but there is only enough money to help 50,000 people.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images