Ann Larson, a fellow with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and the author of Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register (One Signal/Atria, 2026), talks about what she learned about the economy and workers when she went from reporting on low-wage work to taking a job during the pandemic at a local supermarket.

Photo: People shop near 'Sale' signs in the meats section of a grocery store on July 7, 2026 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

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