Scott Horsley
Scott Horsley is NPR's Chief Economics Correspondent. He reports on ups and downs in the national economy as well as fault lines between booming and busting communities.
Horsley spent a decade on the White House beat, covering both the Trump and Obama administrations. Before that, he was a San Diego-based business reporter for NPR, covering fast food, gasoline prices, and the California electricity crunch of 2000. He also reported from the Pentagon during the early phases of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Before joining NPR in 2001, Horsley worked for NPR Member stations in San Diego and Tampa, as well as commercial radio stations in Boston and Concord, New Hampshire. Horsley began his professional career as a production assistant for NPR's Morning Edition.
Horsley earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and an MBA from San Diego State University. He lives in Washington, D.C.
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Gig workers are now relying on a safety net program that didn't even exist six months ago. It provides unemployment benefits to the growing number who don't have a traditional payroll job. -
The Federal Reserve left interest rates near zero Wednesday and pledged it was ready to use all of its available tools to support an economic recovery that appears to be weakening.
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Median household income jumped to $68,700 in 2019, the highest since record-keeping began in 1967. Many of those gains have likely been erased this year, as the pandemic left tens of millions jobless.
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Consumer prices rose 0.4% in August and 1.3% over the last 12 months. Some economists say that official measure understates inflation, because the pandemic has changed both what and how we buy.
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The pandemic has changed how people are shopping in ways that are not reflected in official measurements like the Consumer Price Index, due out Friday morning. Lived inflation is probably even higher.
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Owensboro, Ky., has enjoyed the closest thing to a V-shaped recovery of any city in the country. Its jobless rate soared in April but by June was back to pre-pandemic levels.
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U.S. employers added 1.4 million jobs in August, but job growth has slowed since June. In an interview with NPR, however, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the economic recovery is stronger than expected.
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In an interview with NPR, Powell says it may take years before the economy has fully recovered. He says practicing social distancing and wearing masks is essential for the economy to rebound.
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Fewer jobs were added to the economy last month even as the unemployment rate fell to 8.4%. Job growth has slowed since June in a sign of what could be a long and painful recovery from the recession.
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In Owensboro, Kentucky, the the unemployment rate this summer was actually lower than it was before the pandemic.
