Support the fact-based journalism you rely on with a donation to Marketplace today. Give Now!

A handful of new tech companies are hoping to bring new people into the stock market

May 29, 2018
Federal Reserve data show that just 14 percent of U.S. families own stock directly, and only 52 percent have a retirement account. It’s a highly skewed group: White households are far more likely to hold stock than black or Hispanic households, while the vast majority of stock holdings belong to the wealthiest 5 percent. Economists say […]

World Bank report finds that poverty, lack of education follows generations

May 10, 2018
It’s the dream of many parents that their children will grow up to have more prosperous lives than they did. A new report from the World Bank finds that’s not happening in much of the developing world, where upward mobility has stalled for the past 30 years.  Click the audio player above to hear the […]

LA seeks permanent solution to homeless encampments

Apr 26, 2018
Los Angeles’ homeless population grew by more than 20 percent last year, and three-fourths of that population lives outdoors.
A woman passes a wheelchair-bound homeless man on Spring Street on May 1, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. 
David McNew/Getty Images

Why 1 in 3 families has trouble affording diapers

Apr 10, 2018
Diapers are higher tech than ever before, but many families cant afford them.

Los Angeles struggles to house homeless amid Section 8 shortage

Mar 27, 2018
The U.S. homeless population ticked up last year for the first time since 2010, led by a 26 percent percent surge in Los Angeles.
Trash lies beside the Skid Row City Limit mural as the city begins its annual homeless count in Los Angeles, California on Jan. 26, 2018.
MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

It's a long wait for Section 8 housing in U.S. cities

Jan 3, 2018
In Los Angeles, it can take 10 years to get a voucher — if you're lucky.
In Los Angeles, 188,000 people applied for 20,000 spots in the housing voucher waiting line.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

A Baltimore program tries to help unmarried couples with children build more stable relationships

Dec 12, 2017
There's a marriage divide in the US that's leaving many working-class and poor kids "doubly disadvantaged," a researcher says.
Tanisha Asamu (left) and Robert Johnson pick up their kids after a relationship class at Baltimore's Center for Urban Families.
Amy Scott/Marketplace

For public good, not for profit.

Chicago's decaying water system is delivering disparate rates

Nov 9, 2017
Minority and lower-income residents are struggling to pay skyrocketing bills for a basic resource, says Patrick O'Connell of the Chicago Tribune.
“How far you are away from Lake Michigan doesn't always correspond with how much you pay for water,” says journalist Patrick O'Connell.
Jeff Haynes/AFP/Getty Images

Muhammad Yunus: Wealth concentration "is a ticking time bomb"

Sep 26, 2017
"Human beings are not born to work for somebody else. Human beings are basically entrepreneurs," economist Muhammad Yunus told us.
A person holds a 99 Percent button at the Occupy Wall Street protest September 17, 2012 on the one year anniversary of the movement in New York.
Stan Honda/AFP/GettyImages

Almost half of American households are unable to save for emergencies

Jul 25, 2017
And many don't have enough to cover basic needs for three months.
A mother and her child at the West Side Campaign Against Hunger food bank in New York City. 
Spencer Platt/Getty Images