Work and Economy

October 28, 2015 - Peabody Energy, the nation's largest coal company, is seeking release from a pledge to pay into a health insurance fund. Will taxpayers have to pick up the tab?

October 23, 2015 - An initiative to help states affected by the coal industry's decline has announced its first round of grants valued at $14.5 million. The bulk of the money is going to Kentucky and West Virginia, which have been most severely affected, and will support programs that provide digital media training, boost agricultural production, promote tourism and more.

October 13, 2015 - A new report finds that the national living wage for a single adult is $16.87 an hour — and far higher in many states, including Florida, Georgia and Virginia.

October 12, 2015 - Southern white working-class folks have a reason to feel rebellious — they're just waving the wrong flag to show it.

October 8, 2015 - From Appalachia to the Deep South, organizations are building local and regional food systems to boost rural economies and improve community health.

September 23, 2015 - Tennessee taxpayers have financed hundreds of millions of dollars in economic incentives for VW to locate and expand a plant in Chattanooga that manufactures one of the vehicles involved in the emissions cheating scandal. What happens to that money now?

September 18, 2015 - This week the Census Bureau announced the U.S. poverty rate remained virtually unchanged from 2013 to 2014 despite improving employment numbers. Economic justice advocates across the South discuss what they're doing to address the problem of persistent economic inequality.