Author: Marketplace

In this rough labor market, job seekers are more vulnerable to scams. We’ve all seen those texts, right? The ones offering jobs with suspiciously high pay for suspiciously little work? On today’s show, Marketplace’s Kristin Schwab joins Kimberly to share what happened when she replied to one of these scam messages. Plus, why AI and the shift to remote work has fueled the rise in job scams.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• "Job scam texts have become more frequent and more believable" from Marketplace
• "Who experiences scams? A story for all ages" from the Federal Trade Commission
• "Job Scam Texts Are Duping Gen Z, Millennials Amid Unemployment Fears" from Business Insider

Join us tomorrow for “Economics on Tap.” The YouTube livestream starts at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time, 6:30 p.m. Eastern.

U.S. and Chinese officials are getting together on the sidelines of International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington to try and preserve a fraying trade truce. Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered a ray of hope, ahead of a planned meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month. Plus, what economic picture is non-governmental data painting right now? And, we’ll hear how some countries are vying for a piece of the AI revolution.

Retailers are getting ready for the most magical time of their year: holiday shopping season. Holiday spending is expected to tick up, though that's driven mostly by higher prices. We'll hear more. Plus, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund supports mission-driven lenders operating in rural, tribal, and otherwise underserved parts of the country. President Donald Trump recently tried to fire the entire staff of the CDFI as part of recent federal job cuts.

From the BBC World Service: A major legal claim has been filed in the United Kingdom against pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, accusing the firm of knowingly selling baby powder contaminated with asbestos. The case mirrors American litigation, where billions of dollars in damages have been awarded to plaintiffs. Plus, President Donald Trump says India will stop buying Russian oil. And, how can countries outside the biggest players — the U.S. and China — get plugged into AI infrastructure?

Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants to set up an around-the-clock social media surveillance network, according to public documents reviewed by WIRED magazine.

Under the proposal, ICE would partner with private contractors to monitor platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for information and leads that can be passed on to officers in the field.

Marketplace’s Nova Safo spoke with Dell Cameron, senior writer at WIRED who broke the story, about the proposed structure of this new surveillance program.

The U.S. retail and supply chain sectors are slowing down — September’s Logistics Managers’ Index hits its lowest point since March. Many retailers are stopping shipments after stocking up early to avoid tariffs. Ongoing trade uncertainty and rising costs have companies fretting about the long term. Also in this episode: Gen Z plans to spend less this holiday season, tariffs muddle international library lending, and Colorado colleges partner with the private sector to expand skilled jobs training.

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Marketplace is more than a radio show. Check out our original reporting and financial literacy content at marketplace.org — and consider making an investment in our future.

It’s a big week for bank earnings. JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup reported quarterly results on Tuesday; Bank of America and Morgan Stanley report on Wednesday. Overall, banks are pulling in plenty of revenue — especially from their investment banking and trading departments. But the old-fashioned business of lending out money has been more of a mixed bag. We'll unpack. Also on the show: a major cryptocurrency scam and the economics of Broadway contract negotiations.

Climate change is changing what we eat. As the planet heats up, foods like salmon, chocolate and coffee might be harder to come by and more expensive to buy. In this episode, the “How We Survive” team goes on a food tour around Northern California to find out how tech entrepreneurs are finding new ways to make all sorts of foods that are under threat from the impacts of the climate crisis. 

Joel Mokyr is a professor at Northwestern University, who — along with Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt — won the Nobel prize in economics earlier this week. Today, Mokyr joins the program to discuss how major technological changes can boost economic growth — that is, if politics and institutions can adapt quickly enough. Plus, why the bankruptcies of First Brands and Tricolor Holdings are raising questions about private credit markets and big banks’ exposure to them.

From the BBC World Service: Greece's government is voting on a bill authorizing private sector employees to work up to 13 hours a day, if both employee and employer agree. Labor unions have called mass strikes in protest, paralyzing the public sector. This comes as Greece faces high debt, rising inflation, and lower wages than much of the European Union. Plus, Japan is holding its biggest-ever technology trade show, centered on integrating AI into our daily lives.