Tagged: economy

Correction: This story has been corrected to show that of the 120,000 people who were cut off unemployment benefits before they found a job from summer to 2008 to November 2012, 70 percent have not yet found work.

A program Congress has extended 10 times over the last four years is expected to end this month. The emergency unemployment compensation program has been a safety net for 400,000 people in Washington since the summer of 2008. Four years later 70 percent of people who were cut off from benefits before they found work are still looking. That's about 84,000 people.

It’s estimated that about 8.2 percent of US households don’t use bank accounts. Not only that — 20.1 percent of households are considered “underbanked,” meaning they use bank accounts but still opt for payday loans, check-cashing services and other alternatives. This is according to a recent survey by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

So why aren’t people using banks? Ross Reynolds talks to some of the un- and underbanked.

Jeff Rubin was a high-flying economist at a major Canadian investment bank, until he decided to write a book about how high oil prices were going to flatten the global economy.  Ross Reynolds talks Jeff Rubin about the steadily mounting demand for cheap oil in a world of dwindling supply.

Up to one-third of working adults in the United States are independent contractors. Do you have what it takes to make it on your own? Freelancers Union founder Sara Horowitz joins us to talk about how independent workers are changing the national job landscape and what you need to know before joining the ranks of the self-employed.