Coronavirus-related scams have proliferated in recent weeks. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), some businesses have already been reprimanded for misleading claims around coronavirus treatments and cures. But not all scams are related to false advertising. Other common scams include fraudulent online vendors claiming to sell in-demand goods, fake charities soliciting donations, robocalls pushing ...

With the global economy in flux due to the coronavirus outbreak, worker protections have been under increased scrutiny. Massive layoffs, especially in the retail, leisure, and hospitality industries, have left millions of Americans without a steady paycheck or benefits. Unfortunately, some of the hardest hit industries also report low union membership rates, making workers even ...

In the wake of the novel coronavirus, social distancing measures have been put into place nationwide in order to slow the spread of the illness. As part of this initiative, most “non-essential” businesses have temporarily closed and many other companies have switched to remote work. Not surprisingly, many jobs requiring frequent interaction with others have ...

Over the past few years, homeownership rates for millennials have been slowly on the rise. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the homeownership rate for Americans under 35 grew to roughly 37 percent in 2019. However, homeownership among today’s millennials is still below its peak of 43 percent in 2004 and woefully below the national ...

According to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, almost one-third of American households are considered cost-burdened, meaning they spend 30 percent or more of their income on housing costs. While this figure has declined by almost 6 percentage points following the Great Recession, it is likely to increase again as the U.S. ...

Owning a home has long been a cornerstone of the American Dream. However, this dream remains out of reach for many Americans. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 64.6 percent of Americans owned a home in 2019. That’s 4.3 percentage points below the peak in 2005. While homeownership rates in the U.S. have picked ...

New housing construction in the U.S. is slowing down, which isn’t good for families already struggling to afford their first home. Even though multi-family dwellings have accounted for the lion’s share of new home construction growth since the recession, the shift away from single-family homes has failed to lower prices. Data from the Department of ...

In recent years, some employers have taken to using personality tests in the hiring process or to learn more about the dynamics within a team. One of the main results of personality tests, such as the Myers-Briggs, is indicating whether an individual leans more toward introversion or extroversion. According to psychologist Carl Jung, who first ...

Union membership in the U.S. reached a new low last year. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), just 10.5 percent of all employees were union members in 2018 compared to more than 20 percent in 1983. In the wake of the 2018 Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, which prohibits ...

The construction industry plays a vital role in the national economy. As of 2019, the total annualized value of construction work in the U.S. was approximately $1.3 trillion, making construction one of the nation’s largest industries. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were 5,962,640 employed construction workers in 2018 (not including self-employed), ...

Since the housing market crash of 2008 and the ensuing recession, the U.S. economy has not only recovered, but enjoyed steady growth. Beginning in 2012, an improved job market, low interest rates, and low rates of new home construction have meant that demand for homes has outpaced supply, causing home prices across the country to ...

June of 2019 marked 10 years of uninterrupted economic growth in the U.S., making it the longest expansion on record since 1854, according to the NBER. Unemployment rates are at historic lows and wages are inching up. So it might come as a surprise that more than a fifth of all American homeowners (almost 17 ...

The United States is experiencing one of the longest periods of economic expansion in its recent history with both employment rates and real median income rising. However, the number of newly constructed residential buildings nationwide is still far below its 2005 peak of 2.2 million units, with only 1.3 million units breaking ground in 2018.  Residential ...

With global temperatures rising at an alarming rate, climate change has become one of the most pressing issues of our time. A special report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) contends that land and ocean ecosystems are already starting to change as a result of high carbon emissions, and it is essential to ...

Whether someone is a first-time homebuyer or an investor looking for a rental property, navigating the real estate market can be overwhelming. Local schools, mortgage rates, and the size/condition of the property are a few factors that influence the price tag, but more than anything else, it’s “location, location, location” that dictates the cost of ...

With mortgage rates and demand for new single-family homes at historic lows, investors are paying close attention to new residential construction this year. Residential building permits and housing starts are two widely used indicators of the broader health of the economy. Increased demand for new homes nationally, and in specific geographic areas, can be a ...