Economy

January 22, 2016 - Echoing a tactic used in the civil rights struggle, more than 1,000 low-wage workers rallied outside the Democratic presidential debate in Charleston, South Carolina this week, calling for a sweeping agenda including fair pay, union rights and an end to discriminatory policing.

December 15, 2015 - An oil industry-sponsored study that's been used to justify support for drilling off the Southeast coast overestimated the economic benefits while failing to account for the risks, according to a new analysis sponsored by an environmental advocacy group.

December 10, 2015 - Economic inequality, which is particularly stark in Southern states, is worsening. Two new reports document the growing gap between the rich and poor, its implications for future U.S. economic growth, and policy options for narrowing it.

November 25, 2015 - Rural America is long on opportunity and short on people. If the rest of America doesn't want an influx of courageous and determined new residents, send them our way.

November 13, 2015 - Fast-food and other low-wage workers held hundreds of protests across the country on Tuesday, many in Southern cities. After racking up wins at the state and local levels, organizers are now taking their case for a higher minimum wage and union rights to the national stage in the run-up to next year's elections.

November 6, 2015 - A nationwide strike of fast-food workers is planned in hundreds of U.S. cities on Nov. 10, along with a protest at that night's Republican presidential debate. Low-wage workers are demanding a $15 hourly minimum wage and union organizing rights, and they're putting politicians on notice.

November 3, 2015 - News stories that ask what went wrong with the South too often fail to capture the context of its intergenerational poverty: centuries of enslavement and systemic discrimination that resulted in the immense racial disparities we see today. And it's not just a Southern problem — it's an American one.