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Mitchell Hartman

Correspondent

Mitchell’s most important job at Marketplace is to explain the economy in ways that non-expert, non-business people can understand. Michell thinks of his audience as anyone who works, whether for money or not, and lives in the economy . . . which is most people.

Mitchell wants to understand, and help people understand, how the economy works, who it helps, who it hurts and why. Mitchell gets to cover what he thinks are some of the most interesting aspects of the economy: wages and inflation, consumer psychology, wealth inequality, economic theory and how it measures up to economic reality.

Mitchell was a high school newspaper nerd and a college newspaper editor. He has worked for The Philadelphia Inquirer, WXPN-FM, WBAI-FM, KPFK-FM, Pacifica Radio, the CBC, the BBC, Monitor Radio, Cairo Today Magazine, The Jordan Times, The Middletown Press, The New Haven Register, Oregon Business Magazine, the Reed College Alumni Magazine, and Marketplace (twice — 1994-2001 & 2008-present).

Mitchell has gone on strike (Newspaper Guild vs. Knight Ridder, Philadelphia, 1985) and helped organize a union (with SAG-AFTRA at Marketplace, 2021-23). Mitchell once interviewed Marcel Marceau and got him to talk.

Latest from Mitchell Hartman

  • For many small businesses, giving thank-you gifts to customers around the holidays is a marketing must. But how can you gracefully continue this tradition while scaling back on employee bonuses? Mitchell Hartman reports.

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  • Many former financial employees who found themselves casualties of the recession are still finding they're out of work. Many are ready to take lower-paying jobs to compensate, but Mitchell Hartman reports that may not be necessary.

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  • Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is finally set to fly after a series of problems and delays that has put the aircraft two years behind schedule. But some analysts think it may be too soon to celebrate. Mitchell Hartman reports.

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  • President Obama is hoping to get small businesses hiring again through tax breaks and help with loans. But is this what small-business owners want or need? Mitchell Hartman reports.

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  • November's unemployment figures overall were positive, with the jobless rate dropping two percentage points to 10%. However, the number of people who have been looking for work for more than six months is increasing. Mitchell Hartman reports.

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  • Online shopping is up this year, so it seems like it'd be an easy thing to get into. But small startups say it's anything but. Mitchell Hartman reports.

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  • Massachusetts has launched a program that lets home and business owners who generate their own power sell it back to the electric company for a nice price. Mitchell Hartman reports.

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  • Without sophisticated inventory tracking and market research, smaller stores have to rely on their intuition to stock for the holidays. Mitchell Hartman talks to some retailers in Portland, Ore.

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  • Ten years after the anti-free trade protest known as the "Battle of Seattle," outsourcing has accelerated. But global free trade talks under the WTO are floundering. Mitchell Hartman reports.

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  • Virtually the entire sugar beet crop in the United States is genetically engineered to protect it from herbicides. Now, a lawsuit claiming the biotech beets pose a risk to other varieties could threaten sugar production. Mitchell Hartman reports.

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