Business and Economic News

Loans for first-time homebuyers see record delinquencies
It's a sign that minority, lower income, and first-time home buyers are getting hit hard financially amid the pandemic. But a vast majority are protected by Congress from foreclosure.
How the pandemic is making the gender pay gap worse
"We project it's going to take more than years for the gender wage gap to close to what it was before the pandemic," economist Jane Olmstead-Rumsey says.
Coin shortage hits retailers, laundromats, tooth fairy
As the economy recovers and businesses reopen, the coin supply is expected to normalize. In the meantime, people have found workarounds. However, there are still certain conundrums that only coins can solve.
How bars are fueling COVID-19 outbreaks
To owners of bars and nightclubs, pandemic restrictions on the industry can feel punitive. But there are important differences, virus hunters say, between a bar and a restaurant that serves alcohol.
CDC study finds Hispanics hit disproportionately hard by workplace outbreaks
A study out Monday found that Hispanic and nonwhite workers made up 73 percent of cases associated with workplace outbreaks in certain industries, despite representing 24 percent of the workforce in those sectors.
What's it like to start a new job remotely?
Millions of Americans have lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. What’s getting less attention is the difficulty of starting a new job when so many of them have gone remote.
Milwaukee misses Democratic convention: 'It is a gut punch'
The convention was originally to have taken place in July, attracted about 50,000 people to Milwaukee and injected about $250 million into the economy of the key presidential battleground state. It would have been the first time Milwaukee, a metropolitan area of 1.6 million, hosted a presidential nominating convention.
Wall Street's big money is betting on Biden and Democrats in 2020
Despite the booming stock market under President Donald Trump, the finance sector is giving a bit more money to Democrats than to Republicans for the first time in more than a decade.
Pandemic electric bills are searing hot, as families stay home
With lights out in many offices and millions of people plugging in at home, residential power bills are soaring, even as overall electricity consumption slumps during the recession.
APM Marketplace special: Reset the economy to end systemic racism
Reset the economy to end systemic racism: Kai Ryssdal speaks with experts about what it will take to begin to end the systemic racism that has defined our society and our economy for the last 400 years.