Marketplace Stories

The pace of wage growth increased in January, with average hourly earnings up 2.9 percent year-over-year, according to the Labor Department’s monthly Employment Report. But real, inflation-adjusted wages have been nearly stagnant for decades, rising just 7 percent for the median household over the past 40 years, according to analysis by the Economic Policy Institute. […]

Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald resigned from her post as acting director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. This came after a report in Politico which detailed a series of stock purchases made by Fitzgerald, including shares of tobacco companies. Politico reporter Sarah Karlin-Smith spoke with Marketplace host Amy Scott, and she said the conflict between […]

Prices for West Texas crude oil are hovering around $65 a barrel. That’s more than twice the price at this time just two years ago. Oil companies, including major players like Exxon Mobil and Chevron, have let investors know they’re increasing production, specifically in Texas’ Permian Basin, where output has tripled in the past three years. […]

While new data show the rate of homeowners has risen around the nation — the highest jump since 2004 — that boost hasn’t been felt in cities where the market is particularly tight.  Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 

We are finally starting to see some signs that the tight labor market is pushing up wages. New numbers out today from the Department of Labor show wages and salaries in the private sector are up 2.8 percent from this time last year. That doesn’t leave too much extra cash for workers once you factor […]