PBS NewsHour - Making Sen$e

In Seattle, there is a growing push to raise the minimum wage 62 percent to $15 an hour, which the University of Washington has calculated as the minimum cost of living for an adult with one child. But would the benefits of the wage hike actually outweigh the costs? Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports.

In SeaTac, Wash., home of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, citizens voted last year to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. However, a court decision — now being appealed — has excluded the 5,000 or so workers on airport property from receiving the increased benefits. Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports.

In Switzerland, an idea to guarantee every citizen a yearly income of 30,000 Swiss francs, regardless of other wealth or employment, has gained enough supporters to trigger a referendum. Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports that the idea is gaining some traction across party lines in the United States, too, but views differ on if and how a guaranteed basic income would work.

The Labor Department’s reported boost of 192,000 jobs in March marks a milestone in the economic recovery: all of the private sector jobs lost in the recession have been regained. Economics correspondent Paul Solman offers a closer analysis of the numbers and Hari Sreenivasan takes an in-depth look at the problem of long-term unemployment with Ofer Sharone of the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Facebook has bought the maker of a virtual reality headset and interface for $2 billion. Economics correspondent Paul Solman profiles the company, Oculus VR, and Hari Sreenivasan talks to Vindu Goel of The New York Times for more on the significance of the deal.

The monthly jobs report is big news on the first Friday of every month, swaying the financial markets and prompting immediate analysis. But should these numbers matter so much? A new book, “The Leading Indicators,” argues we overvalue data like the GDP and inflation. Economics correspondent Paul Solman talks to author and analyst Zachary Karabell.

Robotic technology is increasingly infiltrating our everyday world, and as robots become more capable of human labor, people will likely have to develop new skills for new jobs. Economics correspondent Paul Solman talks to Erik Brynjolfsson and Andy McAfee, who argue in their new book, "The Second Machine Age," that we are facing a radical new industrial revolution.

Just 113,000 new jobs were added in January, according to the Labor Department’s monthly employment report. The numbers failed to meet expectations, but the unemployment rate nevertheless ticked down to 6.6 percent. Economics correspondent Paul Solman deciphers the numbers with Justin Wolfers of the Brookings Institution.

Juggling multiple part-time jobs, earning little-to-no benefits, depending on public assistance: This is the financial reality for many adjunct professors across the nation. Economics correspondent Paul Solman looks for the origins of this growing employment trend at colleges and universities.

After eight years, a financial crisis, a Great Recession and an economic recovery, it is Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s final day on the job. Economics correspondent Paul Solman looks back at Bernanke’s performance for an assessment of his legacy by two economists.

Economics correspondent Paul Solman profiles Chris Martenson, a former science professional who gave up his large home and high-status job for life in rural Massachusetts. From there he began expressing his deep dissatisfaction with the way the U.S. economy works and garnered a growing following on his website, Peak Prosperity.

Optimists at Silicon Valley think tank Singularity University are pushing the frontiers of human progress through innovation and emerging technologies, looking to greater longevity and better health. As part of his series on Making $ense of financial news, Paul Solman explores a future of "exponential growth."

When purchasing holiday gifts for your friends and family, is it really the thought that counts? Some economists argue that spending money on presents that don't produce the same amount of satisfaction from the receiver is a dead weight loss. Paul Solman explores this grinchy economic perspective on the holiday shopping season.

Want to have a just-like-real-life fantasy experience without leaving your living room? Virtual reality technology is already employed by certain industries, but economics correspondent Paul Solman considers the variety of applications it could have in the consumer market in the future.

Since the financial crisis of 2008, the Federal Reserve has created trillions of dollars to buy Treasury and mortgage-backed bonds. When is the right time for the Fed to begin slowing down their assistance? Economics correspondent Paul Solman examines how the Fed's buying has impacted the economic recovery.