Tidal flooding is creeping farther into coastal towns like Alexandria, Virginia.
Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images
A sea level scientist explains the two main ways climate change is threatening the coasts.
The price of used cars has soared during the pandemic.
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Higher interest rates reduce demand for goods and services, which makes it harder for companies to raise prices. But there are risks as well.
Plenty of places hiring, and more people looking for jobs.
AP Photo/Nam Y. Hu
While the uptick in the unemployment rate in January may seem like bad news, the reason it rose actually shows the labor market returning to normal.
All eyes are on Fed Chair Jerome Powell as the central bank prepares to raise rates for the first time in three years.
Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP
The US central bank said surging inflation is guiding its decision about when to lift interest rates. Two experts on financial markets explain what might happen next.
Not all baskets are created equally.
Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The rising cost of groceries and gas is fueling the fastest increase in consumer prices in 40 years and widening the inflation gap between the rich and poor.
Flipping jobs?
AP Photo/Jenny Kane
The job market continued to improve in December, but a stagnating labor pool will pose more challenges for employers in 2022.
Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the best economy of them all?
PM Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images
The US economy ended 2021 with a lot of uncertainty and serious problems, such as inflation. How will economists know if things are improving in 2022?
You get the metaphor.
Edwin Remsberg/The Image Bank via Getty Images
Republicans and a few Democrats say the Build Back Better plan would increase the already fast pace of inflation.
Surveys suggest job satisfaction is still quite high.
Maskot/Getty Images
The narrative of the Great Resignation is that workers hate their jobs and are desperate to quit. The data tells a somewhat different story.
Low-wage workers march in Washington on Aug. 2, 2021.
Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
Millions of Americans struggle to pay their bills each month, despite earning wages well above the federal poverty line and holding multiple jobs.
“Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s back to work we go.”
Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images
October’s employment report was rosy, with more than 500,000 jobs added in the month. There were also signs that the American workforce was heading back to the old normal.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell prepares for the end of the era of cheap money.
Matt McClain/The Washington Post via AP
The Federal Reserve decided to slow its pace of bond-buying, potentially the beginning of the end of a program that’s been supporting the economy since March 2020.
Would a default mean an end to the dollar’s position as the go-to trading currency?
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
An economist explains why defaulting on the national debt would result in economic crisis.
After recent supply chain difficulties, is there smooth sailing ahead?
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Job creation might well have slowed, but a deeper dive into employment data suggests the picture is actually pretty rosy.
PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo/Stefan Rousseau
Joe Biden seems to have little appetite for closer economic ties.
Corn yields can suffer in high heat.
AP Photo/Seth Perlman
Much of the US has been experiencing heat waves in recent weeks. An economist explains how the often record-high temperatures can affect the economy.
Biden directed regulators to find ways to limit bank mergers.
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
A handful of banks now dominate the US financial sector. This consolidation has resulted in higher costs for consumers and small businesses and put the economy at greater risk of a financial crisis.
The U.S. economy bounced back in record time.
AP Photo/Gerald Herbert
An economist explains what a recession is, who decides and why it took so long to learn that the COVID-19 downturn was officially over.
A big increase in use car prices drove the inflation rate higher in April.
AP Photo/David Zalubowski
The average price of US goods and services surged in April, leading some to worry the economy is beginning to experience dangerously high levels of inflation. A scholar explains why that’s unlikely.
Child care and preschool are a strain on family budgets.
Matt Roth for The Washington Post via Getty Images
The federal government spends about US$2,500 a year on child care and early education per child under 5, about half of the European average.