PODCAST: A grande race relations conversation

An announcement from Tesla in the I’ll-believe-it-when-I-see-it category. More on that. Plus, Starbucks said this week it wanted to use its big retail footprint to foster a conversation on race in America. It hasn’t gone as planned, as critics have panned the effort as ham-handed. We look at ways companies have had success in talking about diversity and inclusion. And women with limited education beyond high school, especially single working mothers, earn less than men. They’re often shunted into minimum-wage unskilled jobs—in the Wendy’s drive-through or behind the register at Rite-Aid. At the same time, the skilled trades are begging for new recruits: electricians, welders, machinists. There are initiatives to bring women into these traditionally male-dominated professions (by labor unions, community colleges, employer groups). But it’s not an easy gig to work—with a bunch of men on a building site or a machine-shop floor.