wage gap

U.S. workers are far, far more productive than their Chinese counterparts -- mostly because we have a big head start on automation. And when you combine lower productivity with the rising wages that Chinese laborers now demand, you get what may be the recipe for the rebirth of American manufacturing.

The young, upwardly mobile professional was the defining American character in the 1980s, and caused us to coin the word "Yuppies." Today, the dominant trajectory is the reverse: Downward mobility, unemployment and poverty are the defining themes. We're in the Dumps -- so are Dumpies the new Yuppies?

Highly skilled women will lose about a quarter of a million dollars, or as much as a third of their lifetime earnings, by choosing to have a child, making the prospect of raising a family a far more expensive one for college grads than their less-educated counterparts, a new study shows.

No, it's not a new plague. Rather, it's a little-known economics thesis that explains why uneven productivity gains in different sectors can have a huge impact on everything from consumer spending to government deficits. The latter is the nastiest side effect.

Young single women are earning more than their male peers in metropolitan areas around the U.S., according to an analysis of Census Bureau data released Wednesday. Some hope that the trend could eventually eliminate the male-female pay gap.