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Mitchell Hartman

Correspondent

SHORT BIO

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 Stories (1,998)

American Airlines employees await decisions

Aug 8, 2012
Union workers at the bankrupt airline could be facing layoffs in the thousands, or deep cuts to wages and benefits.

The economy makes do with five million fewer jobs

Aug 3, 2012
The nation's output of goods and services is back to the level it was before the recession began in 2007. But five million fewer people are working. Who got left out of the economy?

How the IRS will enforce health care 'tax' penalty

Aug 2, 2012
The House Oversight Committee examines how the IRS will collect taxes from people who fail to buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

Enter to win...a president

Jul 25, 2012
Both the President Obama and Mitt Romney campaigns are using sweepstakes to coax small donations. Do they work?

China wants oil company with U.S. assets

Jul 24, 2012
Analysts don't expect a replay of the fight that stopped CNOOC from buying Unocal.

A new cop on the credit reporting beat

Jul 18, 2012
New government oversight could give consumers more power.

More overtime hours, less overtime pay?

Jul 12, 2012
Federal lawsuits over wage and hour violations are up since the start of the recession.

Would an income tax hike hurt hiring?

Jul 11, 2012
Fewer than a million small-business owners would likely face higher taxes. And some would keep hiring anyway.

Two thirds of Americans aren't economically mobile

Jul 9, 2012
A new study from Pew's economic mobility project finds that only about one third of Americans have achieved a better economic position than their parents.

June jobs report may be lackluster

Jul 6, 2012
Many economists are expecting fewer than 100,000 new jobs created, and unemployment to hold at 8.2% for the month of June.