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WKU Public Radio News Staff

Kevin Willis
Kevin Willis
News Director
Lisa Autry
Lisa Autry
Reporter/Producer
Joe Corcoran
Joe Corcoran
Morning Edition host; Reporter/Producer

Economy

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Economy
9:35 am
Fri April 5, 2013

Job Growth Slows Sharply, But Unemployment Rate Dips

Credit Mario Tama / Getty Images
Li-Wen Hung (left) and Whitney Chen were waiting to meet potential employers at a Manhattan job fair earlier this year.
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Originally published on Fri April 5, 2013 12:44 pm

  • From 'Morning Edition': NPR's Yuki Noguchi talks with David Greene about the latest employment report

There were just 88,000 jobs added to private and public payrolls in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates.

But the nation's jobless rate still edged down to 7.6 percent from 7.7 percent. That dip wasn't for a good reason, though: Nearly half a million fewer people were participating in the labor force. That smaller pool meant the jobless rate could tick down even as job growth was weak.

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Economy
5:30 pm
Thu March 28, 2013

1,569: S&P 500 Closes At All Time High, Rising Above Oct. 2007 Mark

Credit Richard Drew / AP
A trader on floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 25, 2013. U
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By Eyder Peralta

Originally published on Thu March 28, 2013 3:31 pm

The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index broke new ground today, closing at 1,569, an all-time high that erased the record set on Oct. 9, 2007.

The S&P joins the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which broke its 2007 record earlier this month.

Both indices have now recovered all the losses they suffered during the Great Recession.

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Economy
10:37 am
Thu March 28, 2013

Report: Twenty Percent of Residents in Kentucky, Tennessee, on Food Stamp Program

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One in five Kentuckians and Tennesseans currently receives food stamps through a federal assistance program. Nationally, the number of food stamp recipients has increased 70% since 2008.

Twenty-percent of Kentucky residents receive help through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—or SNAP--which provides food stamp benefits for the needy. In Tennessee, 21% of residents are on the program, along with 14% of Indiana residents.

Analysts agree that the biggest reason for the increasing numbers on assistance is the poor job market and national increase in poverty.

But a report in The Wall Street Journal also points out that states are able to ease income tests for would-be participants, allowing those with relatively higher incomes and savings to take part in the program. As of December of 2012, a record 47.8 million Americans received benefits through SNAP.

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