Work and Economy

December 4, 2014 - As President Obama renews his push for two global economic accords, it's a good time to look back at the push to approve the North American Free Trade Agreement -- a deal that has been especially devastating for Southern states.

December 2, 2014 - Edward Baptist's rigorously researched book interweaves economic analysis of the slave trade and the production that came from it with heartbreaking stories of the lives and suffering of the people who were enslaved.

November 26, 2014 - For the third year in a row, employees of the Arkansas-based retail giant are using the biggest shopping day of the year as an opportunity to press their case for higher wages and better working conditions.

October 27, 2014 - Predatory lenders continue to target members of the U.S. military -- and they're getting help from some state politicians like North Carolina House Speaker and U.S. Senate candidate Thom Tillis.

October 23, 2014 - Southern states are being called upon to build an "infrastructure of opportunity" to increase economic mobility for young people in the region. That will also require ensuring that young people have a say in that project through their vote.

October 22, 2014 - Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is one of the world's busiest transit hubs, but the nearby, predominantly African-American community lacks public buses to get around. Next month they'll vote on a sales tax to fund bus service -- but opponents are raising the specter of crime.

October 21, 2014 - A lack of upward mobility for young people is a bigger problem in the South than in any other U.S. region, according to a new report from MDC, a North Carolina-based research nonprofit that focuses on reducing poverty and addressing structural inequity.

October 13, 2014 - While the Affordable Care Act is helping more people get health coverage, it does nothing to thwart low-road employers like Wal-Mart from continuing to shift what should be their costs onto taxpayers.

October 8, 2014 - As labor experiments with alternative forms of organizing such as worker centers and minority strikes, a new book explores such participatory worker organizing and promotes it as the best way to solve the labor movement's deep-seated problems.

September 29, 2014 - U.S. Department of Labor investigations have uncovered hundreds of cases in which oil and gas workers, many involved in dangerous jobs, are being cheated of earnings.