From Marketplace
Each season, we explain the weird, complicated and often unequal American economy — and why some people get ahead and some get left behind. Host Krissy Clark dives into obscure policies and forgotten histories to explain why America is like it is.
25 years after welfare reform, let's revisit "the magic bureaucrat"
August 20, 2021 • It's been 25 years since our country upended its welfare system – and so we're looking back at our very first episode. We spent that first season of "The Uncertain Hour" reflecting deeply on what welfare had become.
My boss is an app
March 24, 2021 • The gig-app workforce has arrived at our doorstep. But Silicon Valley's innovations in hiring are only the latest round of this long-running battle over what employment means in the American economy.
Inside baseball
March 17, 2021 • In minor league baseball, professional athletes train, suit up and play for wages that would be illegal in most sectors. Players live in crowded apartments, sleep on air mattresses, work side jobs and scrape by.
Big Boss, Little Boss
March 10, 2021 • After Jimmy Nicks' job was subcontracted, he took both companies to court — the subcontractor he worked for and its client, Koch Foods. The "little boss" and the "big boss." His case hinged in part on those familiar six words, "to suffer or permit to work," and this week we'll revisit their origins.
To catch a chicken
March 3, 2021 • When chicken catcher Jimmy Nicks' job was subcontracted, virtually overnight, he started doing the same job for a new boss — only without the pay, protections and benefits he'd come to rely on. This episode looks at the subcontracting system that makes worker pay and safety someone else's responsibility.
The liquid workforce
February 24, 2021 • Over a quarter of the world's largest employers don't just make or sell products — they also rent out workers. Let's talk about how we got here. For even more of "The Uncertain Hour," subscribe to our newsletter! Each week we'll bring you a note from host Krissy Clark and explain some terms that have come up in our reporting.
American Public Media
Each season, we explain the weird, complicated and often unequal American economy — and why some people get ahead and some get left behind. Host Krissy Clark dives into obscure policies and forgotten histories to explain why America is like it is.
My boss is an app
The gig-app workforce has arrived at our doorstep. But Silicon Valley’s innovations in hiring are only the latest round of this long-running battle over what employment means in the American economy. This concludes our fifth season of “The Uncertain Hour.” To be the first to hear about our next season, subscribe to our mailing list.
Inside baseball
In minor league baseball, professional athletes train, suit up and play for wages that would be illegal in most sectors. Players live in crowded apartments, sleep on air mattresses, work side jobs and scrape by.
Big Boss, Little Boss
After Jimmy Nicks’ job was subcontracted, he took both companies to court — the subcontractor he worked for and its client, Koch Foods. The “little boss” and the “big boss.” His case hinged in part on those familiar six words, “to suffer or permit to work,” and this week we’ll revisit their origins.
To catch a chicken
When chicken catcher Jimmy Nicks’ job was subcontracted, virtually overnight, he started doing the same job for a new boss — only without the pay, protections and benefits he’d come to rely on. This episode looks at the subcontracting system that makes worker pay and safety someone else’s responsibility.
The liquid workforce
Over a quarter of the world’s largest employers don’t just make or sell products — they also rent out workers. Let’s talk about how we got here. For even more of “The Uncertain Hour,” subscribe to our newsletter! Each week we’ll bring you a note from host Krissy Clark and explain some terms that have come up in our reporting.
Without a home in a pandemic
On any given night last year, half a million people in the United States were experiencing homelessness, and more than 60% of them were staying in emergency shelters or transitional housing programs. Now, those same facilities are hot spots for COVID-19.
Episodes
In the summer of 1996, on the lawn of the White House Rose Garden, President Clinton signed a bill that would dramatically transform the country’s welfare system.
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