Labor Force Podcast

Why do so many Americans feel financially squeezed despite a "strong" economy? In this episode of Labor Force Podcast, we examine rising inflation, falling real wages, the shrinking American Dream, growing wealth inequality, AI and the future of work, labor organizing, and the economic pressures facing working-class families. We also discuss the surge in utility costs, teen unemployment, the rise...

The economy may look strong on paper, but workers are telling a different story. This week, we examine rising inflation, growing financial insecurity, AI-driven layoffs, remote work isolation, faculty governance battles, and major labor fights from Cargill to Walmart. We also discuss the AFL-CIO's plan to organize 2 million workers and the push to make first union contracts easier to win. Topics:...

This week, we examine the growing gap between economic statistics and workers' lived experiences, from rising costs and housing affordability challenges to concerns about offshoring and disappearing manufacturing jobs. We also cover labor struggles across the country, including the Delaney Hall detainee labor strike and growing worker resistance to AI-driven workplace changes. In our featured disc...

This week, we examine the growing disconnect between economic headlines and the reality facing working people. Despite strong markets, Americans are reporting worsening financial stress, rising food insecurity, and fading confidence in the future. We also discuss the live music industry's "blue dot fever," the difficult job market facing the Class of 2026, and how AI is reshaping everything from e...

The economy is supposedly “strong.” So why do millions of Americans feel like they’re drowning? In this episode of the Labor Force Podcast, we explore the widening gap between economic headlines and the reality facing working people: rising prices, layoffs, AI anxiety, debt, housing insecurity, and a growing sense that the system is rigged for billionaires and corporations. We discuss: • Inflation...

This week on the Labor Force Podcast, we examine why so many workers feel trapped in an economy that keeps being called “strong.” From rising living costs and housing insecurity to AI surveillance, precarious gig work, and growing distrust in political institutions, the episode explores the widening gap between economic headlines and daily reality. https://www.wired.com/story/i-work-in-hollywood-e...

This week on the Labor Force Podcast: from the MET Gala to May Day, we examine the widening gap between elite wealth and working-class reality. We break down rising gas prices tied to the Iran conflict, the “vibecession” and America’s growing unhappiness, mounting debt and affordability pressures, and why even a “strong” economy feels unstable to so many people. We also cover major labor actions a...

In this episode of the Labor Force Podcast, we unpack a moment where economic pressure is hitting from every angle. From nationwide May Day protests and calls for an “economic blackout” to rising gas prices driven by global conflict, the strain on working people is intensifying. We connect the dots between supply shocks, inflation, and the growing risk of stagflation—while tracing how the American...

This episode breaks down why the economy feels so bad for workers right now. Rising prices are only half the story—the real issue is wages aren’t keeping up. We explore how employer power in the labor market keeps pay down, creating a “squeeze economy” where workers absorb the hit. We also connect the dots across falling job satisfaction, limited mobility, and instability in government leadership....

This week on Labor Force Podcast, we break down an economy that looks stable on paper—but feels anything but in real life. From a major new push to rebuild union power to strike victories in Los Angeles and Colorado, workers are showing what collective action can still achieve—even under intense pressure. But that pressure is coming from all sides: rising costs tied to global conflict, corporation...

You can feel it—not in the headlines, but in everyday life. In this episode, we break down what it means when people are lining up to save a few cents on gas while nearly half the country struggles to afford basic necessities. This isn’t just inflation. It’s something deeper—a shift in what “normal” looks like in the American economy. We connect the dots between rising costs, stagnant wages, and a...

Gas prices are back over $4—and once again, we’re being told it’s temporary. But this isn’t just about oil. It’s about a fragile global system where one disruption sends costs soaring for everyone else. In this episode, we break down what’s really driving the spike, why inflation may be sticking around longer than promised, and how warning signs like the “Walmart Recession Signal” point to a broad...

What happens when workers are expected to keep everything running—but stop getting paid? This episode breaks down the fallout from a government shutdown hitting TSA workers, the spread of instability into everyday spaces like airports, and the bigger pattern behind it all: rising costs, unstable hours, and an economy that keeps pushing risk onto workers. From underemployment and unpredictable sche...

Gas prices surge. Costs climb. And we’re told it’s not a priority. In this episode, we break down what the Iran conflict reveals about who the economy actually works for—and why working people are always treated as “the last concern.” From rising energy costs and the reality of the “$145K to get ahead” economy, to union-busting legislation in Florida, it’s the same pattern: decisions made at the t...

From rising oil prices to unpaid TSA workers, this episode looks at how economic crises repeatedly shift the burden onto working people while corporations continue to profit. We break down the ripple effects of the Iran conflict on gas prices and inflation, the government shutdown forcing 50,000 TSA employees to work without pay, and how rising healthcare costs quietly suppress wage growth. We als...

In this episode of the Labor Force Podcast, we look at several stories that reveal a common thread in today’s economy: power. From war policy to automation to union rights, the same question keeps coming up—who controls the system, and who benefits from it? We start with the escalating U.S.–Israeli war on Iran and the broader imperial framework behind it, examining why anti-war movements have hist...

In this episode, we unpack the growing gap between political economic messaging and working-class reality. From retirement security tied to speculative markets and rising health care costs to tariffs that quietly raise consumer prices, we examine how today’s “economic populism” often leaves corporate power untouched while workers absorb the risk. We also break down new data showing unionization ri...

From hospital picket lines to Southern auto plants to a legal brothel in Nevada — and all the way to corporate offices rocked by AI layoffs — this episode connects the dots. More than 31,000 health care workers at Kaiser Permanente are still on strike, demanding enforceable staffing standards and real raises after years of burnout. In New York, nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian proved that holding th...

In this episode, we run through a wave of labor fights and political organizing that all point to the same thing: working people are done waiting their turn. From teachers in San Francisco forcing movement after a historic strike, to nurses in New York City refusing to be rushed into a weak contract, to health care workers walking out at Kaiser Permanente, this is what collective power looks like...

This episode breaks down why unions still work—even as organizing faces political and economic headwinds. We cover new data showing union workers earn more and have better benefits, major wins like the UAW’s first contract at Volkswagen in Chattanooga and Iowa nurses unionizing with the Teamsters, and ongoing strikes by healthcare workers in New York and at Kaiser Permanente. We also look at the p...

This episode looks at how immigration enforcement, union-busting, and corporate cost-cutting are all part of the same war on workers — and how workers are fighting back. We break down the Minneapolis shutdowns demanding ICE leave Minnesota, the growing wave of nurse strikes in NYC and across Kaiser Permanente facilities, UPS’s plan to cut up to 30,000 jobs while posting massive profits, and the Tr...

This episode of Labor Force Podcast tracks a labor movement in motion, from mass protest to workplace transformation. We start in Minnesota, where tens of thousands joined a coordinated economic blackout and protests demanding ICE leave the state, accountability for the killing of Renee Good, and an end to ICE funding—raising serious questions about the power and potential of general strikes. We t...

A turbulent start to 2026 makes one thing clear: workers are being asked to absorb chaos, violence, and exhaustion as “normal”—and more people are refusing. This episode begins with winter disruptions in the Great Lakes region and how constant school closures expose the failure of the five-day workweek, shifting stress and unpaid labor onto educators and families. We then turn to New York City, wh...

In this episode of the Labor Force Podcast, we look at how workers are being squeezed from every direction—globally, politically, and on the job. We examine why imperialism and sanctions, especially in Venezuela, are working-class issues that weaken unions and devastate everyday life. We then turn to New York, where democratic socialists are trying to build on Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral victory to p...

This episode of The Labor Force Podcast takes on the question of power—who holds it, who doesn’t, and what it means for working people right now. We examine Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York City and what it would take for democratic socialist policies to succeed in a city shaped by entrenched wealth and political resistance. From there, we dig into the state of organized labor, the n...