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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)

Foreign aid recipients hurt by global economic concerns

Nov 30, 2011
In South Korea today, UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon warned rich countries not to shortchange their international aid programs as they cut their budgets.

Do-gooder had good timing on housing boom

Nov 23, 2011
Kim Carter used to be an addict and convict, but now she's created a foundation to help women get back on their feet. She took advantage of the housing bubble and avoided predatory lending, and thus has been able to provide housing for those in need.

Looking back at the housing boom and bust

Nov 22, 2011
A portrait of one of the places where the housing crash vaporized tens of thousands of jobs and millions in household wealth.

Some Californians turn to church in troubled times

Nov 22, 2011
In the Southern California town of Rialto, jobs and homes have been lost. And one evangelical church has stepped in to help.

American Dream fails in Inland Empire

Nov 21, 2011
California's Inland Empire was a magnet for cheap housing during the boom. Now, the bust has left many towns in this desert region with 15 percent unemployment and few prospects.

Economy adds 80,000 jobs in October

Nov 4, 2011
That number is below economists' expectations and a slowdown from September. But numbers in this range could be the new normal for a long time.

Jobs report expected to show slow and steady growth

Nov 4, 2011
The October jobs report is expected to show the U.S. economy added jobs, but not enough to dent high unemployment.

How to crack into today's job market

Nov 3, 2011
The tiny increases in jobs in the U.S. aren't anything to shout about, but it means that someone out there is now employed. We look at what it takes to get a job in today's market.

Broken into pieces, President Obama's jobs plan still has trouble passing

Oct 21, 2011
So far, Senate Democrats are having little luck passing pieces of President Obama's jobs plan, after it failed to get through in its entirety.

Visas could be offered to foreigners who buy homes in U.S.

Oct 20, 2011
In a lagging housing market, home sales to foreign buyers are up 25 percent in the last year. The Senate will introduce a bill today to encourage more of these sales.