LinkedIn's Work In Progress

As America’s opioid epidemic ravages cities large and small, a new problem is emerging: while jobs exist, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find applicants willing or able to pass the drug tests needed to get them, employers and public officials say. In this episode, Caroline and Chip explore the economic side of America’s devastating addiction to prescription painkillers, heroin and synthetic opioids like fentanyl, and how it’s playing out in workplaces. Sam Quinones, the author of “Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic,” explains the link between jobs and addiction. Then, Jeff DeFlavio, the co-founder of treatment provider Groups, talks to us about ways he thinks employers can be less impacted by the drug crisis across America.

Over half of American startups valued at $1 billion or more have at least one immigrant founder. When it comes to the Fortune 500, 40% were founded by either immigrants or the children of immigrants. The tech community argues that certain immigration policies proposed by President Donald Trump could hurt their ability to compete by closing down their access to international talent. Yet Americans workers across the country remain fearful that with so many people coming from outside the U.S. to work, there won’t be enough jobs for them as a result. In this episode, Chip and Caroline sit down Cloudera co-founder and CTO Amr Awadallah to unpack the giant chasm between how the middle of the country views immigrants and the coasts and the tech community do. Awadallah, an immigrant from Egypt, discusses his own rise in Silicon Valley, the tech talent crunch and how this whole discussion is about to get a lot more heated as automation continues to take over more jobs.

As the retail industry loses more jobs than during the depths of the Great Recession, Walmart is investing $2.7 billion in higher wages, education and training for employees. Doomsdayers are predicting the end of retail work as we know it. Does the world’s largest private employer see something that the rest of the industry is missing? In this episode, Chip and Caroline head down to Northwest Arkansas to speak with both Walmart executives and employees about what’s really going on in the retail industry. Judith McKenna, Walmart’s COO, explains why the nation’s largest employer is focused on training soft skills as the retail landscape becomes more technologically advanced. Paco Underhill, a retail analyst with more than 30 years of experience, also brings his perspective to the seemingly surprise move by Walmart.

With some 57% of jobs around the world at risk of being displaced by automation, some members of the tech community and beyond think giving people money, for free, no strings attached, might be the only way to keep the economy moving forward. But what do the workers who are at risk of losing their jobs actually think? In this episode, Chip and Caroline connect universal basic income experts with workers across the country to discuss a future where fewer and fewer of us have jobs. Michael Faye, the co-founder of GiveDirectly, discusses his non-profit’s experiments with universal basic income in Africa and Elizabeth Rhodes, the head of universal basic income research for Y Combinator, reveals some details from pilots the startup accelerator is conducting in Oakland, Calif. Caroline and Chip ask Michael and Elizabeth to respond to the strong opinions against universal basic income that they are hearing from workers across industries. 

Hosts: Caroline Fairchild and Chip Cutter.

Producers: Dave Pond and Florencia Iriondo

Last year, venture capitalists invested nearly $70 billion dollars in startups across the country, but close to 80% of that capital went to founders in just three states: California, New York and Massachusetts. In this episode, AOL Co-Founder and Revolution CEO Steve Case joins to talk about how VCs can support entrepreneurs across the country.  The man behind  "Rise of the Rest,”  a nationwide effort to work closely with entrepreneurs in emerging startup ecosystems, Case has been working on this issue for quite sometime. So why do the numbers refuse to budge? Caroline and Chip ask Steve to dissect the issues by connecting him to founders who are trying to start companies in the middle of the country.

Silicon Valley investors pummeled some $188 million last year in voice enabled bot technology. This growing trend threatens to replace some of the most common jobs in America, including cashiers and administrative assistants. In this episode, General Catalyst Managing Partner Phil Libin joins to talk about the issues behind the investments. The founder and former CEO of Evernote, Libin has already invested in several chat bot startups and thinks the technology will revolutionize the way we work moving forward. But what does that mean for today's frontline workers? Caroline and Chip ask Phil to weigh in by connecting him to several cashiers and personal assistants working today across America.