Week of January 1st, 2024

Their use is waning, but not everyone is sold on digital payments.

Activity in the sector contracted last year, but federal investment is one of the factors that could make 2024 better.

Not the kind of cookies you think. Plus, manufacturers are hopeful the new year will go better, thanks in part to federal government funding.

These cookies follow you around the internet — a major privacy issue, advocates say. But getting rid of them won’t get rid of targeted ads.

Stocks rise; job gains outpace November’s; wage gains outpace inflation; service sector expands.

Rate hikes and recession fears are out, economists tell us, and rate cuts are in — but so is geopolitical uncertainty.

Pooja Bavishi’s Indian-inspired treats were always popular. But the path to the expansion of her business was long and complicated.

Scholars say local action directed at improving access to housing, health care and education are more likely to pass than cash payments.

Job growth was better than expected in December; average hourly earnings grow 4.1%, outpacing inflation; services sector slows as consumers shift spending; FDA approves Florida plan to import Canadian prescription drugs.

Employers added 216,000 new jobs in December, and the unemployment rate remained low. We’ll discuss.

The new funding approach puts more money into the system and more emphasis on outcomes rather than enrollment totals.

Reparations may be politically unviable, so we’ll unpack what alternatives could look like.

From the BBC World Service: Grocery giant Carrefour will stop selling Pepsi products in France, citing “unacceptable price increases.”

A recession explainer the whole family can understand.

Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal joins Marketplace’s Lily Jamali to discuss the biggest tech stories of the week.

Even if we’re back to statistical “norms,” remote employment, widespread freelancing and worker activism have changed the landscape.

Employees who lose their jobs at the end of they year may vent on social media. That can hurt a company’s reputation, experts say.

It’s the new normal — more remote work, more self-employment, more activism. Plus, car bloat has societal impacts.

Stocks close mixed; wages rise at slower pace; service sector expands at faster clip; weekly initial unemployment claims fall.

The key will launch Copilot, Microsoft’s AI assistant program. But whether users will take to it is an open question.

The trend of bigger, weightier vehicles — known as car bloat — has contributed to road fatalities and environmental contamination.

Consumers are more comfortable making impulse buys on smartphones — and retailers know it.

Bankruptcies rose 18% in 2023; Red Sea attacks are causing spikes in transport costs; private employers added 164,000 jobs in December; Carrefour supermarket chain pulls PepsiCo products due to price increases.

Labor demand is still pretty robust — but it’s also highly concentrated in three sectors.

November job openings also trended down but were still above pre-pandemic levels.

A new agency would determine a person’s eligibility for reparations by examining range of historical records,

From the BBC World Service: Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, is trying to introduce a radical financial agenda but has been met with wide-scale protests.

Recommendations start “with those folks who are clearly descendants of 250 years of wage theft in this country,” says Sen. Steven Bradford.

A new database from the Tech Transparency Project shows that Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg have donated hundreds of millions to universities. Katie Paul, the project’s director, says tech industry funding can have an impact on research as well as on the experts who consult with policymakers.

Sociologist Reuben Jonathan Miller on the “afterlife” of incarceration and giving grace to people who have spent time in jail or prison.

A more stable, less swingy labor market, as reflected in the latest JOLTS data, is usually good news.

Stocks fall; job openings have been falling over the last two years; Fed minutes show members think interest rates are at or near peak; manufacturing sector contracts.

Sociologist Reuben Jonathan Miller discusses the “moral worlds” of people who’ve been convicted of violent crimes

It’s becoming increasingly common for employers to list ghost jobs.

November job openings totaled 8.8 million, little changed from October; Richmond Fed’s Barkin says no timetable for rate cuts; Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd pause Red Sea shipping again; Buffett tops list of charitable giving in 2023.

Despite a sunny outlook, there are still some global and domestic risks worrying economists.

Fairly low unemployment, gradually slowing inflation and continued economic growth are all positive signals. But there are risks too.

As new generations of drinkers prioritize well-being, more brewers are providing nonalcoholic beer offerings.

One thing can be agreed upon by all sides of the debate: Any path to reparations would be paved with complexity.

From the BBC World Service: One in five major commercial ships is avoiding the Red Sea due to attack threats, one industry leader said.

After a state task force issued a nearly 1,100-page report in 2023, lawmakers are starting to look at reparations policy options.

Jeff Horwitz, author of the new book “Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the Fight to Expose Its Harmful Secrets,” details his experience covering the social media giant, including its efforts to control access to information.

You can now use elements from Disney’s 1928 short films “Steamboat Willie” and “Plane Crazy” in your own work.

It’s hard to say, but we asked experts for their best guess. Plus, a Chinese automaker appears to have outpaced Tesla in 2023.

Chinese automaker BYD, which sells both hybrids and pure EVs, likely surpassed Tesla’s total vehicle sales last year.

Despite the anxiety, 2023 closed out pretty well for investors. But that hasn’t resulted in a unified sense of optimism.

Workers prefer the stability of permanent jobs, and permanent workers tend to be more productive.

Stocks close lower; manufacturing construction up almost 60% year-over-year; manufacturers’ orders fall; optimism rises.

Deep learning, voice cloning and image tech are helping people with nonstandard speech express themselves and be better understood.

Do they wait for lower rates in the future or borrow what they need today? It’s a question of cost versus opportunity.

Barclays says Apple sales are likely to be sluggish; many EVs lose $7,500 tax credit; McKinsey agrees to near $80 million opioid settlement; nearly half the states implement minimum wage increases.

Three women who share how the lack of higher education opportunities has affected their lives.

The World Bank has warned the ban on educating women will hurt the country’s prospects for economic growth. 

You likely know how much these drug price increases will affect you until you get to the pharmacy counter.

From the BBC World Service: A plane carrying nearly 400 passengers caught fire while landing at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan.

Drugmakers plan to raise prices on more than 500 drugs in January. We explore what this means for consumers.

The Treasury Department found that that third-party vendors were directing users to paid products.

After traveling to 40-plus states in the U.S. and having a hard time finding queer, inclusive spaces, Charlie Sprinkman founded Everywhere Is Queer, a worldwide map to let others know of where to find them.

Plus, retirement on the moon?

Over 20 states just gave millions of workers a raise. Plus, Warren Miller: godfather of the ski film.

Big companies have been paying billions to acquire smaller competitors — and their drilling rights.

The highest state minimum wages as of Jan. 1, 2024 will be Washington state at $16.28 and California at $16. But is that really enough to live on?

In New York City, there’s been an uptick in landlords reporting tenants’ rents to credit bureaus, and not all renters are happy about it.

The late Warren Miller created the genre of the ski “stoke” film, designed to get people excited about skiing. The latest film released under his name takes a look at Miller’s legacy.

That soft landing economists have been talking about? Many are starting to think the Fed might pull it off.

Storm clouds ahead or smooth sailing? We check in with the experts to chart our potential trajectory.

From the BBC World Service: It’s a new year, but what will it mean for a rivalry between the world’s two largest economies?

From chatting with the Robo Rabbi to being #BlessedByTheAlgorithm, religion and artificial intelligence are entangled, says the University of Zurich’s Beth Singler.