Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Read our research on:

Home Research Topics Economy & Work

Economy & Work

Icon for promotion number 1

Sign up for our weekly newsletter

Fresh data delivered Saturday mornings

Thank you for subscribing!

All

Economy & Work

Publications

  • short reads

    5 facts about ethnic and gender diversity in U.S. newsrooms

    Last week, San Francisco Bay area television station KTVU broadcast fake names for the pilots of the Asiana Airline flight that crashed on July 6. The error involved ethnic stereotyping, leading the Asian American Journalists Association to assert that these kinds of mistakes “underscored the importance of newsroom diversity” at America’s media outlets. A similar […]

  • report

    Welcome to the Global Middle-Class Surge

    By Alan Murray, President, Pew Research Center This op-ed was published in The Wall Street Journal on July 18, 2013. The mass uprisings this summer in Egypt, Turkey and Brazil are powerful reminders that the middle classes drive history. What remains unclear, however, is where they are driving it. The world today is witnessing its third great […]

  • report

    Public Esteem for Military Still High

    More than three-quarters of Americans continue to believe that members of the military contribute “a lot” to society’s well-being. By contrast, only 37% say clergy make a big contribution to society, and journalists have dropped the most in public esteem since 2009.

  • report

    Public Esteem for Military Still High

    More than three-quarters of U.S. adults (78%) say members of the military contribute “a lot” to society’s well-being, according to a new survey of Americans’ views on various professions. By contrast, just 37% of Americans think the clergy contribute a lot, putting religious leaders well behind teachers, medical doctors, scientists and engineers.

  • short reads

    New capital rules require U.S. banks to fatten their wallets

    Banks are going to have to hold more capital as a cushion against losses, under new rules adopted today by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Federal Reserve Board, which developed the rules jointly with the other banking regulators, approved them last week. The new capital rules, intended […]

  • short reads

    Averages, medians and unemployment: Parsing the numbers

    Every month when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its jobs report, people home in on one particular metric: the unemployment rate. But there are a lot of other interesting and potentially significant data in the report, though interpreting them appropriately can be tricky. Take, for example, the duration of unemployment. There’s little doubt that more […]

  • short reads

    Obama seeks to improve economic ties with South Africa as China edges in

    President Obama’s trip to South Africa this week aims to strengthen economic ties between the two countries at a time when China’s growing economic presence in the region has added a new dynamic. According to the European Commission, in 2011, China accounted for a larger share of South Africa’s trade than the U.S. did. And the […]

  • report

    Favorable Views of Business, Labor Rebound

    Overview Favorable opinions of both business corporations and labor unions have rebounded from record lows reached in the summer of 2011. Overall, more Americans now hold a favorable (55%) than an unfavorable (39%) view of business corporations; two years ago, opinion was reversed (52% unfavorable, 38% favorable). Similarly, views of labor unions have returned to […]

  • report

    Obama Job Approval Holds Steady, Economic Views Improve

    Overview In a second term marked by a series of controversies and little legislative success, President Obama’s job approval rating has nonetheless remained fairly steady. Currently, 49% approve of the way Obama is handling his job as president while 43% disapprove. That is little changed from a month ago, before the NSA surveillance controversy and […]