How to Kill the Middle Class
Strangling public-sector unions in Wisconsin has shrunk teachers’ pay and benefits. Who’s next?
Economy
There's a Clear Way to Fix the H-1B Visa Program
Closing a 1998 loophole would prevent companies from replacing American IT workers with foreign guest workers. Why hasn’t that been done yet?
Ikea’s Leave Policy Actually Includes Most of Its Workers
The furniture retailer will provide up to 16 weeks paid parental leave for its staff—including hourly employees. A generous, and rare, offer in the U.S.
What We Learned From Interviews With 100 American Workers
Two Atlantic staffers discuss Inside Jobs, a months-long reporting project that included conversations with an obituary writer, a janitor, a train conductor, and many others.
What It’s Like to Be an Immigration Attorney in the Final Weeks Before the Trump Presidency
One lawyer says that she’s seen a tenfold increase in calls, emails, and inquiries to her firm since the election.
The Dangerous Myth That Hillary Clinton Ignored the Working Class
To many white Trump voters, the problem wasn’t her economic stance, but the larger vision—a multi-ethnic social democracy—that it was a part of.
November: A Good, but Not Perfect, Jobs Report
The U.S. economy created 178,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate hit a nine-year low, but wage growth declined slightly.
The Dark Omen of Those Dow 19,000 Hats
Special baseball caps are made to commemorate bull-market milestones, but when the economy crashes, they become painful reminders of the extent of the fall.
How the Economics of Journalism Explains 2016's Information Bubbles
Jay Hamilton, a Stanford professor who studies media business models, sees similarities between some of today's outlets and the partisan press of the 1850s.
Why Violence Against Nurses Has Spiked in the Last Decade
Hospital patients are attacking staff at an alarming rate, and there are no federal regulations requiring employers to provide any protection.