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Ben Casselman's 363 bylines

What PA-12 Means for PA-Sen, Pelosi's Majority -- And, oh, PA-12
Presidents Are Viewed More Fondly in the Rear-View Mirror
In Public Opinion on Abortion, Few Absolutes
Signs of a Thaw
Slow And Steady Is Losing the Race
Obama Plan Could Mean Overtime Pay for Millions
Three Rules to Make Sure Economic Data Aren’t Bunk
The Piles of Cash That Never Existed
Poverty, Policy And Pot
When Living Wage Is Minimum Wage
Typical Minimum-Wage Earners Aren’t Poor, But They’re Not Quite Middle Class
Former Obama Adviser: Government Should Have Done More
Out of Work, Out of Luck
Want a Raise? Quit Your Job
Missing: Up To 4 Million Workers
Labor Force Participation Doesn’t Mean What It Used to
Born in the Early ’80s: Where Are They Now?
Residents of Struggling Cities Opt to Skip Town
Income And Spending Are Up — Thanks, Obamacare
A National Drilling Boom, But a Two-State Oil Boom
Jobs Report: Back to Where We Started
Labor Secretary: Long-term Unemployment Keeps Me up at Night
Inflation May Hit the Poor Hardest
Answering Questions About Inflation Inequality
The Odds of Finding a Job Have Improved
Why We’re Meh About the Falling Layoffs
Losing Benefits Isn’t Prodding Unemployed Back to Work
The Biggest Predictor of How Long You’ll Be Unemployed Is When You Lose Your Job
Timing Matters When Losing Your Job (And Timing Was Very Bad in 2009)
The California Comeback
How Much Do State Jobless Rates Differ?
More High School Grads Decide College Isn’t Worth It
Inequality in College Towns
Looking at Unemployment From a Family Perspective
In the Papers: Research That May Change How We Think About Economics
Race Gap Narrows in College Enrollment, But Not in Graduation
A Bad GDP Number, But There’s Some Hope Ahead
Jobless Benefits Are Disappearing Much Faster Than Jobs Are Appearing
The Jobs Numbers Are Wrong, But Don’t Blame Obama’s ‘Chicago Guys’
A Really Weird Jobs Report
Seasonal Quirks Might Help Explain the Strange Jobs Report
In the Papers: The Effects of Increasing Social Security Benefits
The Trade Report Paradox
What Baby Boomers’ Retirement Means For the U.S. Economy
Americans Will Burn Less Oil 25 Years From Now
The Future of the U.S. Oil Boom Is Anyone’s Guess
The Job Market’s Giving Us Mixed Messages
In the Papers: A Look at the First Major Government-Sponsored Welfare Program
A Big Debate About Baby Boomers
The Slow Death of American Entrepreneurship
In the Papers: Stimulus Spending, Investing And Paying Off Debt
Cutting Off Emergency Unemployment Benefits Hasn’t Pushed People Back to Work
Is College Worth It? It Depends on Whether You Graduate
How Worried Should We Be About the Negative GDP Report?
A Big Oops (And a Lesson) in Manufacturing Data
We’ve Regained the Jobs Lost in the Recession, But the Recovery Isn’t Complete
The Job Market’s Five-Year Recovery in 10 Charts
In the Papers (Jumbo Edition): Recession Damage, Music Piracy And Generosity
Public Schools Are Hurting More in the Recovery Than in the Recession
States That Already Spent Less on Education Have Made Bigger School Cuts
Finding a Job Opening Has Gotten Easier, But Getting a Job Hasn’t
In the Papers: Snow Days, Dropouts and Breast Cancer
It’s Hard to Get Off the Couch When You’re Unemployed
Rhode Island Has the Country’s Worst Job Market
The Economy Got Off to a Historically Bad Start in 2014
No, the Long-Term Jobless Aren’t ‘Catching a Break’
In the Papers: Gun Control, Gender Equality and Taxes
The Job Market Is the Strongest It’s Been Since Before the Recession
In the Papers: Long-Term Unemployment, Education And Marriage, And Patent Trolls
Job Seekers Face Their Best Odds of the Recovery
Immigration Is Changing Much More Than the Immigration Debate
Immigration Isn’t Driving Hispanic Population Growth
How Do We Know How Many Undocumented Immigrants There Are?
In the Papers: Prison, Prostitution and Unhappy Cities
Why June’s ‘Disappointing’ Retail Sales Were Good News for the Economy
The Labor Force Won’t Fix Itself
North Dakota’s Oil Bonanza Is Unsustainable
In the Papers: Retail Wages, Work-Study, School Breakfast And Job Polarization
The Economy Bounced Back From Its Winter Slump
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Charts How Much Vacation You Get
It’s Too Soon to Celebrate the Drop in Long-Term Unemployment
The Job Market’s Steady As It Grows
Inflation Isn’t Rising Yet, But The Fed Is Watching Closely
In The Papers: Cash For Clunkers, Affirmative Action, Oil And Water
Don’t Blame Age For Declining U.S. Entrepreneurship
Corporate America Hasn’t Been Disrupted
By Any Measure, The Job Market Is Getting Better
Summer Jobs Are Slowly Disappearing
The Poorest Corner Of Town
The Number Of Homeless Veterans Really Is Falling
In The Papers: Recessions, Early Education and Slow GDP Growth
Economic Inequality Continued To Rise In The U.S. After The Great Recession
The Jobs Numbers Were Discouraging, But Don’t Overreact
Don’t Blame Boomers For Unemployed Workers Leaving The Labor Force
In The Papers: Inequality, Long Hours And Gifted Education
The Economic Guide To Picking A College Major
Women Are Majoring In The Lower-Paying STEM Fields
Five Years Of Recovery Haven’t Boosted The Median Household Income
Most Of The U.S. Saw Little Recovery In 2013
The American Middle Class Hasn’t Gotten A Raise In 15 Years
How A Typical Family In 1988 Is Doing Today
In The Papers: Entrepreneurs, Energy and Education
Americans Aren’t Getting Married Anymore
Marriage Isn’t Dead — Yet
Still No Recovery For U.S. Entrepreneurship
September’s Jobs Report Was Good, And August’s Got Better
Slow Hiring Shows That The Job Market Isn’t Fully Healed
The Law Of Supply And Demand Suddenly Applies To Oil, Too
When To Pay Attention To The Stock Market (And When To Ignore It)
U.S. High School Dropout Rates Fall, Especially Among Latinos
Are Corporate Jets More Dangerous Than Commercial Aircraft?
Inequality, Youth Unemployment And Retirement Incentives
Election Day Could Bring Raises To 680,000 Low-Wage Workers
Finding A Job With A Felony Conviction Is Hard. California May Make It Easier.
How Good Are Incumbent Governors’ Economic Records?
A Big Night For Minimum Wage Increases
More Employers Are Hiring But They Aren’t Raising Pay
Parenting, Pollution And Media Bias
Recent Veterans Still Struggle To Find Work
Hurrah For Quitters
What The Surprise Japanese Recession Says About Economic Forecasting
Explaining The Slow Death Of American Entrepreneurship
Undocumented Immigrants Aren’t Who You Think They Are
The U.S. Census Is Trying To Get A More Accurate Count Of Arab Americans
It’s Incredibly Rare For A Grand Jury To Do What Ferguson’s Just Did
The Census Still Doesn’t Know How Many Same-Sex Couples There Are
The Census Is Still Trying To Find The Best Way To Track Race In America
Hurricane Katrina, Peer Pressure and Energy Conservation
Minor Crimes Get Unusually High Attention In Eric Garner’s Neighborhood
November’s Jobs Report Crushed It
The Wealth Gap Between Whites And Minorities Is Growing
The Conventional Wisdom On Oil Is Always Wrong
More Of The Long-Term Unemployed Are Finding Jobs
Television Bias, Energy Efficiency, Financial Literacy And Poverty
How The Economist Got Its List Of Top Economists Wrong
2015 Will Be The True Test Of The Economic Recovery
Economists Are Finally Reconnecting With The Real World
2014 Was The Best Year For Jobs Since 1999
Yes, Some Companies Are Cutting Hours In Response To ‘Obamacare’
There Are More Jobs For Fewer Workers, So Why Aren’t Wages Rising?
Few New Parents Get Paid Time Off
A Cheat Sheet For Obama’s 2015 State Of The Union Speech
The European Central Bank Just Made Your Gas Cheaper
Inequality, Unemployment Benefits And Pollution
Unemployment Has Changed. Unemployment Benefits Haven’t.
What We Know About The New York Train Crash Site
Revisions Made This A Blockbuster Jobs Report
Veterans, Racial Disparities, Mortgage Fraud And Children’s Health Insurance
A Cheat Sheet For Comey’s Speech On Race And Policing
Scott Walker Is One Of The Few Governors Still Cutting Higher-Ed Spending
What Wal-Mart’s Pay Increase Means For The Economy
Rest In Peace, Mr. Spock
Cheap Gas Is Boosting The Recovery
College Choice, Performance Pay And Life Expectancy
Strong Hiring Still Isn’t Bringing Pay Raises
A Wall Street Journal Op-Ed Gets It Very, Very Wrong On Seasonal Adjustment
Big Government Is Getting In The Way Of Big Data
There Are Lots Of Jobs Available, But Are They Good Jobs?
Financial Crises, C-Sections And Government Shutdowns
How Sports Can Be Part Of The Solution On Domestic Violence And Sexual Assault
Think Millennials Prefer The City? Think Again.
Tax Cuts, Home Prices and Bankruptcy
Male CEOs Get Bonuses; Female CEOs Get Blame
Middle Class Jobs Are Still Lagging
The McDonald’s Vacation Plan Is A Bigger Deal Than The Pay Raise
Wal-Mart Is Growing In Same-Sex Marriage Territory
The Tax Deductions Economists Hate
Be Nervous (But Not Panicked) About The March Jobs Report
Don’t Be So Happy About That Tax Refund
Where Your State Gets Its Money
Five Years After The BP Oil Spill, The Industry Is Still Taking Big Risks
Few Countries Are As Vulnerable To Earthquake Damage As Nepal
How Baltimore’s Young Black Men Are Boxed In
Baltimore Has A History Of Improper Arrests
Enough Already About The Job-Hopping Millennials
The Jobs Recovery Is Back On Track
Advanced Placement Tests, Tuition Increases And The Power Of Lists
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Likely Won’t Face Execution For A Very Long Time
LA’s New Minimum Wage Isn’t Worth Anywhere Close To $15
Where Police Have Killed Americans In 2015
A Good Jobs Report, But Not Yet A Full Recovery
Some Parts Of America Are Aging Much Faster Than Others
Don’t Let The Disappointing June Jobs Report Distract From The Long-Term Trend
Calm Markets Are Bad News For Greek Negotiators
Jeb Bush Was Right: Americans Need To Work Longer Hours
The Numbers Behind Hillary Clinton’s Economic Vision
What New York’s Minimum Wage Proposal For Fast Food Workers Is Really Worth
How Our Parole Simulator Works
Should Prison Sentences Be Based On Crimes That Haven’t Been Committed Yet?
Don’t Forget The Workers The Recovery Is Leaving Behind
What We Don’t Know About Canada Might Hurt Us
Everything* Donald Trump’s Immigration Plan Gets Wrong
Katrina Washed Away New Orleans’s Black Middle Class
Worried About The Stock Market? Whatever You Do, Don’t Sell.
About That ‘Game-Changing’ Jobs Report
Jeb Bush’s Tax Plan Is Pretty Weird
How To Evaluate The Economic Records Of Governors Who Want To Be President
More Jobs Haven’t Meant Less Poverty
John Boehner Had A Good Run
33 Million Americans Still Don’t Have Health Insurance
Donald Trump Wants To Eliminate Income Taxes For 31 Million Americans
The U.S. Economic Recovery Now Depends On Consumers
It’s Getting Harder To Move Beyond A Minimum-Wage Job
The 1 Percent’s Earnings Could Be Stagnating — At $671,000
The Jobs Report Is Even Better Than It Looks
The Economy Is Better — Why Don’t Voters Believe It?
Mizzou’s Racial Gap Is Typical On College Campuses
Half Of People Who Went To College In The Recession Haven’t Graduated
Alaska Would Rather Go Broke Than Pay Taxes
Black Friday Sales Numbers Are Useless And Wrong
Most Republicans Have Negative Views Of Muslims — And Toward A Religious Test
Microloans Don’t Solve Poverty
Most Americans Aren’t Middle Class Anymore
The Ultimate Guide To Winning Your White Elephant Gift Exchange Using Game Theory
No Child Left Behind Worked
2016 Will Be (Another) Test Of The Economic Recovery
Job Growth Was Great In December, But Can It Last?
Are We Headed For Another Recession?
The Stock Market Is Not The Economy
Americans Are Still Really Worried About The Economy
Rich Kids Stay Rich, Poor Kids Stay Poor
The Unemployment System Isn’t Ready For The Next Recession
The Rent-Seeking Is Too Damn High
Slower Job Growth Doesn’t Mean We’re Headed For A Recession
Saudi Arabia Is Winning Its War Against The U.S. Oil Industry
The Presidential Race Is Finally Moving To States With Economic Problems
No One Can Agree How Much The Presidential Candidates’ Tax Plans Will Cost
What’s Changed in Harper Lee’s Hometown Since ‘Mockingbird’
What Is The Real Unemployment Rate?
Super Tuesday Will Be Our Best Look Yet At What Voters Think About The Economy
The Next Amazon (Or Apple, Or GE) Is Probably Failing Right Now
It’s Time To Start Planning For The Next Recession
Americans Are Finally Returning To The Workforce
Is Twitter Making Us More Productive?
Manufacturing Jobs Are Never Coming Back
The Job Market Is Pulling In People Who Didn’t Want To Work Before
Shut Up About Harvard
California’s $15 Minimum Wage Makes A Lot Less Sense Outside Of Silicon Valley
The Rising Unemployment Rate Is Good News
Trump’s Support Would Be Easier To Explain With Better Polling
Everyone Files Their Taxes At The Last Minute
Ban Tax Day (As We Know It)
Licensing Laws Are Shutting Young People Out Of The Job Market
The Economy’s Crisis Ended Under Obama, But Its Long-Term Problems Didn’t
This Year’s College Grads Are The Luckiest In A Decade
The Job Market Cooled In April But Is Still Strong
Americans Don’t Miss Manufacturing — They Miss Unions
No, Bill Clinton Does Not ‘Know How’ To Fix The Economy
Stuck In Your Parents’ Basement? Don’t Blame The Economy
The Rent Is Less Damn High