Marketplace Business News

14/09/2025

Tariffs and immigration policy are complicating homebuilding in Texas. One family shared their struggle with us.👇

The Texas suburbs have been a major driver of home building, but new housing construction in the state has slowed and single-family housing permits are down 8%.

14/09/2025

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 6.35% this week — the lowest in about a year.

As consumers gain more power in the real estate market, they’ll have to make a choice between a fixed-rate mortgage, which allows them to make consistent payments, or adjustable-rate loans, which generally start with lower rates but go up as interest rates rise.

What's cheaper over time? Marketplace's Janet Nguyen explains.

“When you get a fixed-rate mortgage, it's like buying insurance against inflation, and you're paying for that insurance over the whole life of the mortgage,” one expert told us.

13/09/2025

After over 300,000 Black women left the labor force earlier this year, some economists are putting the spotlight on how racism and misogyny combine to affect Black women’s economic conditions. In her new book, “The Double Tax,” Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman looks at policy solutions for the problem.

In her new book, author and PhD student Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman looks at how both gender and race cost Black women — and how policy can help address those costs.

13/09/2025

When you look at numbers like unemployment and wage growth, Minnesota’s economy is doing pretty well compared to the rest of the country. But there are concerns about the state’s agricultural and manufacturing sectors, some of its most critical industries.

What can we learn about the wider U.S. economy by looking at business conditions and job markets on a region-by-region basis?

13/09/2025

People just can’t get enough of pawpaws.

But you won’t find them in most grocery store aisles, and you may not even recognize the name — much less have tasted the fruit. So what's all the hype about?

The pawpaw fruit is native to North America — but hard to get your hands on. Researchers and farmers weigh in on what the future of pawpaws might look like.

13/09/2025

The stock market has reached new highs over the last few years. It’s been a different story for smaller publicly traded companies, or "small caps." A Fed rate cut, however, would mean lower borrowing costs for them, which could improve their profits.

But their success will also depend on the overall health of the U.S. economy.

12/09/2025

We explain why interest rates have an outsize impact on smaller businesses. Plus: Economic headlines, a New Orleans florist, and powerful scents.

Today on Marketplace.

We explain why interest rates have an outsize impact on smaller businesses. Plus: Economic headlines, a New Orleans florist, and powerful scents.

12/09/2025

“You can try and suppress statistics, but you can't suppress reality.”

The Department of Labor is investigating the Bureau of Labor Statistics after the Trump administration criticized the bureau’s downward jobs revisions. But if federal data is in question, that could be a problem for U.S. credibility on the global market.

It's not a story about wonky statistics. It's about America's reliability as a borrower of trillions of dollars, something that underpins our global economy.

12/09/2025

The cost of groceries in August was up 0.6% from July. As weather and labor shortages drive up the price of production, grocery stores with slim profit margins are forced to push those costs onto the consumer.

Instead, it's labor costs and the weather.

12/09/2025

Kimberly Adams traveled “way down yonder” — along with friends Laura Blessing, Melisa Goh, and Robb Hill — to pick pawpaws at her Uncle David’s home in Maryland.

Never had a pawpaw? Watch our video and tune in later today as Kimberly and Laura talk more about the native fruit, along with the federal funding deadline and more on Make Me Smart’s “Economics on Tap” livestream, airing every Friday at 6:30 PM ET/3:30 PM PT.

12/09/2025

Despite a slowing labor market, the restaurant industry just keeps growing. That could in part be because, for middle- and high-income consumers, eating out is a luxury most don’t want to give up just yet.

The restaurant industry is up 120,000 jobs year over year.

12/09/2025

Have you noticed your energy bill going up? You’re not alone. Costs for energy rose the most of any category over the last year, and increased demand is one major reason behind it.

One reason is that demand has surged from electrifying vehicles and furnaces — and from the rush to build new data centers.