Week of June 14th, 2010

What jobs are on offer at this point in the so-called "recovery?" For our series on long-term unemployment — "Help Not Wanted" — reporter Mitchell Hartman dropped in on a job fair in suburban Chicago to find out.

Jason Ferrara of CareerBuilder.com reviews the resumes of Tess Vigeland and Marketplace listener Betsy Miller and shares tips on how to improve their resumes and yours.

Hiring managers receive a lot of resumes and with so many people out work, the pool of competition to land a job has only gotten larger since the…

Question: When my Mother passed away she left each of my siblings and I an inheritance. She raised 5 children on her own, worked as a nurse, saved…

Marketplace's Brendan Newnam chats with fellow staffers Ben Adair, Stacey Vanek-Smith and Nihar Patel about under-the-radar business: a city in Japan, a tanning tax, and a super computer

When it comes to the job losses Americans are suffering through, it's been said that this has been very much a "middle-class" recession. That's because it's hit a broad number of industries. And many workers may never catch up to the career level they were before. Mitchell Hartman has the story of one worker who has had to start over.

If you own a motorcycle, you may have heard of Laconia Bike Week. The event is the oldest of the country's "Big Three" motorcycle rallies, and it used to be one of the wildest. But these days, a new corporate sponsor is part of a different scene. Shannon Mullen reports.

If you catch a World Cup game on TV, keep your eyes on the billboards circling the field. Rob Schmitz noticed something new in between the Adidas and McDonald's signs: the World Cup's first Chinese sponsor.

The Big Money's Heidi Moore and Visible Economy's Mike Mandel talk with Bob Moon about why BP CEO Tony Hayward is handing over day-to-day operations of the Gulf oil leak to his company's managing director and whether President Obama will be known for getting tough on big business.

The Senate has passed a bill that temporarily spares doctors from a 21% cut in Medicare payments. The House will take up the bill next week. So how do you lower Medicare costs without paying doctors less? Nancy Marshall Genzer reports.

Demand for GM cars is so high that the company is skipping its annual summer shutdown at its plants. Why is the carmaker doing so well? Alisa Roth reports.

Tess Vigeland sits down with Bruce Iglauer, founder of Alligator Records, and talks about blues music that talks about unemployment.

Former carpenter Daniel Morey followed a similar path as Lego's founder Ole Kirk Christiansen to become a master model builder.

Sherri McClendon and many other older workers face the dilemma of being too old — and hence, too expensive — to be considered for many jobs and being too young to qualify for retirement benefits.

The tough job market new college graduates are getting dumped into may significantly affect their chances for higher positions and salaries.

Tess Vigeland and finance expert Ilyce Glink take Chicagoans' questions at the Thompson Center on landing a job, how much a college degree is worth and how to market yourself online.

Tess Vigeland chats with John Challenger of the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas on his thoughts of the job market's future

It wasn't that long ago that MySpace defined social media. You could customize your page, make friends who weren't really your friends. Yes kids,…

Reuters reports Facebook is making up to $800 million in revenue. Scott Austin, editor of Dow Jones VentureWire, explains why that's a big deal.

No, not for his privacy policies. Pakistan's deputy attorney general is pursuing charges against the Facebook CEO because someone on Facebook…

The Obama administration has proposed new antitrust rules for meat companies. Large meatpackers like Tyson Foods Inc. and Smithfield Foods Inc….

Mitchell Hartman talks to senior executive assistant Marsha Gooden as she goes on a search for new employment.

In a study ranking top auto brands, U.S. companies came out ahead of Toyota for the first time in several years.

A new study shows a clear link between the price of soda and how much we drink. Will this help states' quest to pass a soda tax? Gregory Warner explains.

European leaders have agreed to publish the results of their bank stress tests, despite their preference to be more discreet.

European leaders meeting in Brussels have made encouraging moves toward Estonia and Iceland, despite both countries' substantial financial problems.

On this week's Marketplace Minute: BP woes and walruses, iPhone 4 preorder wars, deflation and early French retirement.

BP has pledged a half-billion dollars towards researching the biological impacts of the Gulf oil spill, which is helping some eco-scientists continue their projects.

Marketplace Morning Report for Friday, June 18, 2010

Marketplace for Friday June 18, 2010

Marketplace Tech Report for June 18, 2010

Each week on Marketplace Money, host Tess Vigeland looks at the week's major national and international stories that will impact the average listener's wallet.

Video games, movies, TVs — even newspapers: they're all going 3D. But why pay for extra inconvenience?

Getting back into the job market proves tough for workers in Chicago struggling against record-breaking trends in long-term unemployment.

A new survey from The Pew Research Center shows that President Barack Obama is much more popular abroad than he is in the U.S., which is benefiting…

Question: I am an avid listener! LOVE the show. My husband and I have been contemplating buying our rental. The landlord wants to sell, is willing…

Lawmakers kicked off a House subcommittee hearing with more than an hour of BP criticism before the oil company's chief got his chance to talk. Washington bureau chief John Dimsdale talks with Bob Moon about what happened when BP CEO Tony Hayward testified and why he didn't answer certain questions.

The National Labor Relations Board mediates disputes between companies and labor unions. It's supposed to have five members from both political parties, but it had just two members between 2008-2010. So the Supreme Court is throwing out nearly 600 of its decisions from that period. Brett Neely reports.

European correspondent Stephen Beard talks with Bob Moon about why the financial plight of a few European countries is calling the whole euro system into doubt, and how likely it is that some countries might pull out from the eurozone.

A few years ago, tomato prices were sky high because of a shortage. But these days, farmers have more tomatoes than they know what to do with. And prices are so low many of those juicy beauties might not make it off the vine. Janet Babin reports.

The FCC is taking steps to change the regulation of high-speed Internet providers. It wants to treat the providers more like phone companies, so they'd have to give all Internet traffic equal access. The agency is opening up public comment on the plan. Nancy Marshall Genzer reports on how the plan might affect the economy.

The main drag in any urban neighborhood is its moneymaker. So naturally those areas are always trying to figure out how to make more money, and beautification is a bit part of it. One Toronto neighborhood's beautification is of a more audible variety. Sean Cole reports.

The Federal Communication Commission is likely to vote today to go ahead and seek public comment on three different plans to regulate broadband. Steve Chiotakis learns more about net neutrality from analyst Rob Enderle.

Grab several grains of salt, a whole shaker even, when you hear it but Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg says that email is going the way of the…

It's another business story that reveals something human the more you look at it. Huffington Post, which a lot of people think may be about to be…

The New York Times has a really interesting article about factory workers and labor unrest in China. Workers are often poor, migrant workers with…

Marketplace's economics editor Chris Farrell wonders: If the fishing industry workers of the Gulf Coast deserve to be compensated for the BP spill, what about the other victims of global business?

BP CEO Tony Hayward has already given his explanations and apologies to the government. Will the extra face time in Congress do any good?

After more than a decade of luring us in with free checking accounts, Bank of America and other banks are planning to pull back from the service.

BP CEO Tony Hayward is facing the music and looking somber at his congressional hearing explaining the how's, why's and what's of BP's massive oil…

Many who dream of becoming chefs in Los Angeles dread the thought of kitchen costs. But one business is making an affordable kitchen space a possibility.

Bypassing the U.S. dollar and euro, Russia says it will start stockpiling the Canadian dollar in its foreign currency reserves.

Disney has been infamous for adhering to the same conservative dress code established in the 1950's, but it seems the Mouse has finally loosened…

The Swiss government today agreed to hand over the names of more than 4,450 Americans suspected of tax evasion. Stephen Beard reports.

The United Auto Workers union is holding its annual meeting this week in Detroit, and members are discussing ways they can grow. Alisa Roth reports.

Just another issue itching at Goldman Sachs: ABC News reports employees at Goldman's Jersey City, N.J., office tower have had to make way for…

Marketplace Morning Report for Thursday, June 17, 2010

Marketplace for Thursday, June 17, 2010

Marketplace Tech Report for June 17, 2010

Twitter has become an important source for real-time news and social networking. We take a look at its future.

Marketplace Money is in Chicago this week to tape a special episode on jobs and unemployment. Host Tess Vigland and audio engineer Josh Rogosin h…

Back when the euro was just getting going, nobody was very worried about Spain or Greece. Italy was the weak link in the common currency. Now, ten years later, Italy could still turn out to be the eurozone's biggest liability. Christopher Werth reports.

A bill proposed in the Senate would give the president power to seize control of the Internet in response to a national security threat. Jeff Horwich reports.

Goldman Sachs's Code of Business Conduct and Ethics says the bank pledges to conduct itself in accordance with "the highest ethical standards." Unless it doesn't want to. Greg Unruh, director of the Lincoln Center for Ethics, talks with Kai Ryssdal about why the bank included a 'safety valve' on certain provisions in its code.

The U.S. Department of Education has been looking into recruitment and student debt loads at for-profit schools. And now officials have proposed a series of new rules. Amy Scott reports.

At this point we've heard a lot about the BP oil spill, how it's devastating Gulf coast fishing.And you might think the fishing industry and oil industry would be at odds. But as Adriene Hill reports from the Sustainability Desk, in Southern Louisiana, it's not that simple.

Far removed from the Gulf, Wall Street excesses are also in need of a clean up. Commentator Robert Reich wonders where financial reform is.

In Britain, some politicians and some pundits have bristled at what they see as President Obama's "anti-British rhetoric" over the role of BP. Stephen Beard reports.

BP has committed to set aside $20 billion to clean up and reimburse businesses and individuals hurt by the spill. The money will be put into an escrow account and run independently. The announcement came after several hours of negotiations between BP's top brass and Obama administration officials. John Dimsdale reports.

Question: I'm trying to figure out a few things regarding buying a car. We always buy used, does it ever make sense economically to buy a new car?…

At the E3 expo yesterday, Nintendo premiered the 3DS, a handheld 3D gaming gizmo. Like their long standing DS line but in 3D. What's noteworthy is…

The most frequently mentioned word in Goldman Sachs's code of ethics is not "ethics" or "morality" or "honesty" or "integrity." It is in fact: "f…

On today's show we talk about how you can watch TV without having cable or satellite service. After we were done recording, our engineer Rob Byers…

The fastest-growing county in the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is Kendall County, Ill. — a suburb of Chicago. Kendall Country grew…

France wants to push the retirement age up from 60 to 62. Europeans retire before 60 in several countries, but many want to change that.

Wal-Mart has purchased a minor stake in a debit card company with a plan to offer savings accounts to its core customers.

Top U.S. diplomats and high-tech executives are visiting Syria this week in an effort to use technology as a diplomatic tool.

Workers and Gulf residents affected by the BP oil spill continue to have questions and concerns about the claims process.

Security operations at the G20 site in Toronto have begun to test the patience of residents and small businesses. Sean Cole reports.

Harry Reid and other Senate Democrats are pushing for an extension on a tax break being offered to first-time homebuyers.

Nothing like the beginning of summer to start thinking about the winter holidays. Toys 'R Us is kicking off a program that'll let consumers save…

Marketplace Morning Report for Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Marketplace for Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Marketplace Tech Report for June 16, 2010

New home entertainment options by Apple and Microsoft offer ways to watch what you really want, without the high costs of cable. But are they worth the extra hassle?

Washington bureau chief John Dimsdale talks with Kai Ryssdal about what President Obama said in his speech on the BP oil spill, how he responded to criticism he's gotten over enacting a deepwater drilling moratorium, and the impact all of this will have on developing a cleaner energy strategy going forward.

The Marketplace Money team is in Chicago to focus on jobs — losing one, getting one, starting over and everything in between.

American's may worry about getting too much radiation, which raises the risk of cancer. But according to this article from the AP, we don't get too…

In Spain, the countries largest unions are protesting over plans to reform the country's labor laws. But the government has been forced to take these measures by fellow members of the eurozone. Stephen Beard reports.

This summer, Starbucks will stop charging for Internet access and offer free Wi-Fi. Jeff Horwich reports.

Journalist Gary Rivlin talks with Kai Ryssdal about his new book "Broke USA," and the business of making money off the poor.

The National Association of Home Builders' monthly index of builder confidence is down to levels last seen in February. Home builders have lost confidence that many people want to buy a new house now that the government's temporary tax credit has expired. Brett Neely reports.

Government leaders around the world have been pressuring credit-rating agencies to be more honest with investors. Except, apparently, when it comes to the risk that certain European countries could go bankrupt. Bob Moon explains.

Washington bureau chief John Dimsdale talks with Kai Ryssdal about what to expect tonight from President Obama's speech on the BP oil spill and how the spill has affected politics and the climate change bill.

On Capitol Hill, chief executives of the world's largest oil companies defended their commitment to safety standards. And took the opportunity to blame BP for ignoring the same standards. But were the mistakes that caused the Gulf spill really a break from the norm or just business as usual? Rob Schmitz reports.

Question: I wanted to know if I'm on the right track for retirement and how do I stand if I want to retire early? I currently owe nothing but I do…

It's the beginning of pre-orders for the iPhone 4 today but another launch happened as well with very little fanfare. The new Mac Mini, an updated…