Are vaccinations getting people to spend? Maybe not yet.

May 24, 2021
Wall Street Journal reporter Sarah Chaney Cambon notes that unvaccinated people are outspending the vaccinated.
Customers inside a bar in North Hollywood. In order to enter, they must provide proof of vaccination.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

COVID-19 has veteran bartenders and servers thinking about career moves

Jan 29, 2021
Making drinks and waiting tables used to be fallback occupations for many young people. The coronavirus is changing that.
Some bartenders and servers are wondering whether the risk is worth the reward.
Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images

Manufacturers recovering as service industry continues to suffer

Nov 25, 2020
Orders for big-ticket items are a rare economic bright spot. But many businesses that rely on in-person customers are hurting.
Workers manufacture face shields in New York. Demand is healthy for medical and cleaning supplies.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images

The job market is still in recovery, but it's also still losing momentum

Nov 6, 2020
The decline in unemployment has slowed since an early rebound from the first wave of COVID-19 shutdowns.
The manufacturing and construction sectors have done pretty well throughout the pandemic, but But, jobs in travel, hotels and restaurants are still way down.
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

What happens to consumer spending next in the stop-and-go COVID-19 economy?

Nov 5, 2020
It doesn't look good, considering the pandemic is still raging and there's no additional federal relief yet.
A man waits for his lunch order at relatively empty Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles in June.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

There are big variations in the state-by-state unemployment picture

Sep 21, 2020
States that rely heavily on the in-person service sector are still facing high unemployment, while farm states are seeing lower jobless rates.
States that rely heavily on face-to-face service jobs, like New York, have the highest unemployment.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Restaurants struggling to hire, despite high unemployment

Aug 27, 2020
The pandemic is worsening the labor crunch in an industry that's been short-handed for years.
A chef prepares patrons' meals at a restaurant in Tampa, Florida.
Octavio Jones/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

How's the jobs recovery? Depends on the sector of the economy.

Aug 7, 2020
Service-sector jobs are coming back, but professionals who've been working from home are facing layoffs.
A waiter serves a customer outdoors at a Maryland restaurant in June. Service-industry jobs saw the biggest comeback in the July jobs report.
Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

Dine-in restaurants see takeout success as a recipe for the future

Aug 3, 2020
The owner of one fine-dining restaurant in California opened a new eatery during the pandemic as a takeout operation.
Many restaurants, like this one in Washington, D.C., are relying on takeout only during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

A hair stylist choosing between her livelihood and flattening the curve

Mar 25, 2020
Ashley Nelson wasn’t forced to stop working, but she decided to anyway.
Ashley Nelson, a hair stylist at the Collab Salon in Boise, Idaho, recently decided to stop taking appointments because of COVID-19.
Arlie Sommer