🖤 Donations of all sizes power our public service journalism Give Now

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 (2,002)

Stimulus jobs program faces expiration

Sep 30, 2010
A stimulus program that put hundreds of thousands of unemployed people back to work is out of money. Senate Republicans have blocked new stimulus money to keep the program going. So workers in 38 states could start getting pink slips right away. Mitchell Hartman reports.

A new normal for the job market?

Sep 27, 2010
Job growth is increasing, but at much slower rate than the growth of the working-age population. The severity of the recession may change the job market for many years to come.

The unemployed, a new voting bloc?

Sep 23, 2010
Unemployment hovers around 10 percent -- a good chunk of the population. An affiliate of the AFL-CIO is trying to mobilize those unemployed to get liberal Democrats into offices -- but it's going to be a challenge to get them into the voting booths.

This Bud's for you... and it's free

Sep 23, 2010
As part of a new marketing campaign next week, Budweiser will hand out free brewskis in bars and restaurants nationwide. The company is trying to attract younger drinkers. Mitchell Hartman reports.

Apartment construction on the rise

Sep 21, 2010
August housing numbers were released -- and the number of housing starts, home completions and apartment building construction is up. But permits for single-family homes were down What does this mean for the housing market and the recovery?

Recession's end doesn't mean full recovery

Sep 20, 2010
A report from the National Bureau of Economic Research said that the recession ended over a year ago -- but as Marketplace's Mitchell Hartman reports, just because the recession ended, doesn't mean people are feeling good.

Job market picking up, but 'too slowly'

Sep 16, 2010
Unemployment claims at the state level dropped, perhaps indicating a small recovery. Another sign of the recovery? Increasing competition for top-level managerial positions, which may trickle down to lower-level jobs too.

Obesity costs go beyond medical bills

Sep 15, 2010
So, turns out being fat and out of shape isn't just bad for your heart and your medical bills. It's bad for the whole economy -- costing hundreds of billions of dollars a year, according to a new study on America's growing obesity epidemic. Mitchell Hartman reports.

Small biz against more tax filings law

Sep 14, 2010
Republicans are pushing an amendment to repeal a provision of the Obama health care reform law that adds new tax reporting requirements for business owners. Mitchell Hartman reports.

First-time unemployment claims down

Sep 9, 2010
First-time claims for unemployment benefits fell 27,000 from last week to 451,000 -- a two-month low. Is this a sign that the economy is recovering?