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Erika Soderstrom

Associate Producer

Erika works with a group of extraordinary producers to chase business and economic stories heard on “Marketplace Morning Report.”

Latest from Erika Soderstrom

  • Employers say they can’t fill jobs, but wages are still pretty stagnant
    Mario Tama/Getty Images

    Even though employers say they can’t find people available to work right now, there isn’t evidence of a widespread labor shortage, according to one economist we spoke to. We’ll explain. Plus, President Joe Biden’s plan for a global minimum corporate tax is one step closer reality. And, a plan for changing college admissions that one professor argues would help even the playing field: a lottery system.

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  • A global tax plan, but with compromises for China and India
    STR/AFP via Getty Images

    From the BBC World Service: In order to get countries including China and India to agree to a global corporate tax rate of at least 15%, other nations had to agree to an exemption for manufacturing. Plus, with financial services firms moving some jobs out of London since Brexit, the U.K. government has unveiled its plan to make the industry more competitive. We hear from Nicola Watkinson at TheCityUK on what a successful post-Brexit strategy could look like.

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  • "College is not the engine of upward mobility we assume it to be," says Harvard professor Michael Sandel. He says a lottery for admissions would change that.
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    Harvard’s Michael Sandel says a lottery conveys “what is true in any case: that luck matters as much as effort in admission.”

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  • With more people on the move as economies reopen, oil prices will keep going up if demand outraces supply.
    Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images

    Those two indicators are weekly jobless claims and oil prices. Unemployment claims dropped again, and crude oil prices are north of $75 per barrel, the highest since 2018. Plus, a record financial penalty for online brokerage Robinhood. Plus, as the Chinese Communist Party turns 100, how the worker-employer relationship has changed in China over the years. And, why corporations must look internally as well as externally to address social inequity.

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  • Dry, hot weather in certain parts of the U.S. and supply chain issues are to blame.
    Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

    Dry conditions and heat in parts of the West have raised the fire risk, so some cities are canceling fireworks celebrations. And even in places that are allowing shows, like with so much else these days, there’s a supply problem. Plus, an update on COVID vaccine passports from Europe. Also, a surge in tourism for national parks and what it means for local economies. And, our “Back to Business” series takes us today to Nebraska’s largest Black-owned business and how it’s handled the pandemic.

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  • U.K. plans for closer ties to U.S. on financial services
    Tolga Akmen - WPA Pool/Getty Images

    From the BBC World Service: Britain’s finance minister Rishi Sunak says he wants to build on the $28 billion in financial services that the U.K. exports to the United States each year. We hear from Jonathan Hill, a former European Commissioner for Financial Stability who carried out a review for the British government on making the sector more competitive. Also, as China’s Communist Party turns 100, President Xi Jinping said his country’s economic and military renaissance has become irreversible. While the country has grown richer, its government has embraced private business, but with limits.

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  • Will Biden address antitrust concerns with an executive order?
    Win McNamee/Getty Images

    There are reports the White House could be readying a big push for more competition across the U.S. economy and limits on companies that wield a lot of power. And, a closer look at stock buybacks now that the Federal Reserve has lifted pandemic restrictions on banks that curtailed shareholder payouts.

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  • Author Keith Ferrazzi says remote and hybrid work lets organizations expand who's involved in decision-making.
    Grady Reese/Getty Images

    If hybrid and remote work persist as may be the case, Keith Ferrazzi has some ideas to make the meetings shorter, less frequent and much more productive. Plus, United Airlines’ massive plane order and what it says about the future of air travel. And, keeping an eye on rising oil prices and how OPEC may react in a meeting this week.

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  • For decades, countries in Africa have imported 99% of their vaccines, but the COVID pandemic is driving changes to that approach.
    Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images

    From the BBC World Service: A new United Nations report says unequal distribution of shots is one factor in the loss of trillions of dollars from the global tourism industry, especially in developing countries. For Africa, could ambitious plans to expand vaccine production in Kenya and other countries reduce the need to import shots and aid economies? Plus, why the Euronext stock exchange operator decided to move its computer servers from London to Bergamo, Italy, after Brexit.

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  • Banks are about to start sending a lot of cash to shareholders
    Spencer Platt/Getty Images

    The Federal Reserve has released the nation’s biggest banks from pandemic limits on how much money they can return to shareholders. Banks are preparing to hike dividends and increase buybacks. Also, the latest round of data shows home prices went up yet again. Plus, in states where pandemic unemployment benefits have been cut early, some people left benefit rolls even before deadlines hit. Some of them have found work and some of them haven’t. And, the latest NFT: an orchestra in Tennessee working with a local composer who’s looking for more control over her work.

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Erika Soderstrom