Marketplace

It’s clear now that the pandemic has disproportionately affected women when it comes to employment. About 2.8 million women have left the labor force since COVID-19 hit in March 2020, compared to 2.4 million men. And there are a lot of obstacles preventing women from returning to work. On today’s show, we hear about one woman’s struggle to overcome long-term unemployment. Also on the show: Amazon is buying MGM Studios for $8.45 billion, how the role of chief sustainability officer is changing, and a look at the history of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on its 125th birthday.

Your support powers nonprofit news — become a Marketplace Investor before Thursday to help us reach our fundraising goal: marketplace.org/donate

New-business formation exploded during the first year of the pandemic. But a paper  from the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that those new businesses were concentrated in Black neighborhoods and that Black Americans were more likely than white Americans to take steps toward entrepreneurship during lockdown. Also on the show today: overcoming fear as a first-time homebuyer, how the pandemic changed city streets and a new company is enabling anyone to buy and lock up pollution permits.

Cheers to making it through this year! Donate today and celebrate the Marketplace way, with our stock market-inspired drink recipes: marketplace.org/donate

Tomorrow marks one year since George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis. Protesters across the country demanded racial justice, and a lot of big companies said they were committed to racial equity. Banks, tech companies and major retailers pledged monetary investments, retail shelf space and increased diversity in many ways. One year later: Have those companies kept their promises? Also on the show: Memorial Day weekend could be a test for the movie industry, how the COVID-19 vaccine is affecting consumer spending, and the return of the power lunch in London.

Cheers to making it through this year! Donate today and celebrate the Marketplace way, with our stock market inspired drink recipes: marketplace.org/donate

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday that the Fed will publish a report on central bank digital currency this summer. A central bank digital currency is kind of like Bitcoin, minus the chaos and volatility. So how would that work in the U.S.? Also on the show today: What shoe sales are telling us about the economic recovery, President Joe Biden is asking federal agencies to gauge the financial risk of climate change and the cash-free model might be here to stay.

Another 444,000 Americans filed first time unemployment claims last week, reaching the lowest level since March 2020. At the opposite end of the unemployment spectrum, 4.2 million Americans are long-term unemployed, meaning they’ve been jobless for 27 weeks or more. On today’s show: The history of long-term unemployment in the U.S. Also, businesses are now the most trusted institution in the world, expanding Medicaid could produce more than 1 million new jobs in 2022, and the U.S. and China clash over international tech standards.

Cheers to making it through this year! Donate today and celebrate the Marketplace way, with our stock market inspired drink recipes: marketplace.org/donate

Economic policy doesn’t always tell the whole story. That’s why economists like Rhonda Vonshay Sharpe, president of the Women’s Institute for Science, Equity and Race, are pushing government agencies to disaggregate data by breaking it down into categories like race, gender and education level. On today’s show: How that data can create more equitable policy. Also, the semiconductor chip shortage is affecting household staples, a coalition of 200 businesses is trying to get women back into the workforce, and the rise of social trading apps.

Cheers to making it through this year! Donate today and celebrate the Marketplace way, with our stock market-inspired drink recipes: marketplace.org/donate

The International Energy Agency released a report saying if the world wants to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, we’ll need to change a lot and change it fast. But is it doable? On today’s show: What needs to happen to reach net-zero carbon emissions. Also: Zoom happy hour has mixed reviews, housing starts were down in April, and one entrepreneur has made the best of the pandemic by following her passion and writing children’s books about Asian culture.

Cheers to making it through this year! Donate today and celebrate the Marketplace way, with our stock market inspired drink recipes: marketplace.org/donate

More than 11,000 gas stations are still out of gas, including over half those in North Carolina and nearly 70% of the stations in Washington, D.C. This comes five days after the Colonial Pipeline resumed operations after a ransomware hack forced a shutdown. Congress will begin pushing forward a pipeline-security bill Tuesday to prevent future outages, but some say it lacks adequate safeguards. And pipeline companies aren’t exactly on board. Also on today’s show: AT&T is merging media operations with Discovery, public-transit systems try to lure riders back and a conversation about internet access with the acting chair of the Federal Communications Commission.

We got some inflation news this week, with consumer prices up 4.2% year over year. Retail sales in April were flat: 0% growth. And the latest $1,400 round of stimulus checks boosted Americans’ bank accounts. On today’s show: What all that means for economic recovery. Also, how retail workers are navigating new mask guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, how Biden’s global tax plan will affect his beloved Ireland, and why a northern Michigan retailer is banking on a summer with lots of foot traffic.

“They are desperate,” said one labor market expert. “They” being businesses struggling to find workers — despite the 10 million unemployed Americans — as the economy continues to open back up. So some businesses are offering higher wages, including Chipotle and McDonald’s. But the thing about raising wages: You can’t really “unraise” them. Also on the show today: Congressional earmarks are back, what love letters have to do with buying a house, and we check in with students who had their student loans paid off by a billionaire.

Donations from listeners power our nonprofit news. Your gift will support the journalism that keeps you and thousands of others informed every day. Become a Marketplace Investor: marketplace.org/donate