The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "service economy" ...
-
Pension Bonanza
The state of Illinois is in a large amount of debt due to its pension plan, which is causing services to be eliminated. The pension plan has allowed some government retirees to become millionaires and others earning “at least $100,000 a year”. This is one of the reasons the state is in large debt and the fact the pension plan is costing “more than $800 million a month”.
Tags: workers; taxes; taxpayers; economy; expense; burden; retirement; benefits; money; Quinn
-
Building a Life, Paycheck to Paycheck
In this seven-day series, reporters at The Oklahoman look at the sources of poverty, unemployment, and the lasting effects on Oklahoma residents. This in-depth investigation not only identifies some of the major causes of unemployment in the state, but also puts a face on the working poor, highlighting four Oklahoma residents who struggle to make it. According to the series, a major source of unemployment came from a shift from manufacturing to service jobs. As a result of the stories, there was outpour of help in the community as well as a community forum for residents to share ideas and experiences.
Tags: health care; unemployment; working poor; social service organizations; Citizens League of Oklahoma; service economy; living wage
-
Inside Jobs. Mr. Schwalb is putting his inmates to work for the private sector. As prison population surges, service economy offers rich source of chores. Labor, business are livid.
This article talks about FPI -- Federal Prison Industries. In the past FPI has only produced goods for the government, but now it may start producing goods for the private sector as well. This article explains how that might work, and what potential problems may arise.
Tags: FPI; Federal Prison Industries; private sector; producing; manufacturing; goods; prisoners; work; jobs
-
Signs of Revival: Some Unions Step Up Organizing Campaigns And Get New Members
The Journal finds that the U.S. labor movement has been "winning a few," as the numbers of union workers increased 3% over two years. Unions are shifting their strategies, the story reveals. Many are pouring money into organizing campaigns and targeting low-wage service workers. The reporter exemplifies the issue with the success stories of several unions, and finds that their revival could possibly solve the problem with the stark class divisions in America
Tags: labor; business; employment; garbage workers; low income; poverty; wages; unemployment; flight attendants; economy
-
The Underground Economy: Illegal Markets in America
A Marketplace week-long investigative series explores "how underground entrepreneurs - or criminals - make their business work while operating in ... America's many illegal markets." Washington-based reporter Steven Henn reveals how, in one way or another, government has pushed underground many industries and activities - including currency exchange, drugs, gun sales and ownership, gambling, abortion services, prostitution and midwives' birth-help practice. The series poises the question: Are these industries made more or less dangerous and abhorrent now that they have been pushed underground? One of the main reporting challenges has been protecting the identity of the interviewed criminals.
Tags: AUDIO TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; money laundering; drugs; gambling; trafficking; guns; drug dealers; CIA; intelligence; OECD; economy; personal safety; black markets; peso exchange
-
Air Piracy
Goozner examines the predatory policy that major airplane companies use "to drive an upstart competitors from a route, or out of business entirely." In spite of the deregulation of the airline industry, which started more than 20 years ago and was meant to improve air travel services, these services have been constantly deteriorating over the years, the story finds. The author points out that "even longtime friends of deregulation have grown frustrated by the industry's seemingly inexorable march toward monopolization." The main conclusion is that the government should re-regulate the industry to preserve the benefits of competition while reducing bad customer service.
Tags: business; dumping; hub-and-spoke system; economy; technology; leisure travel; Department of Transportation; airports; Chicago O'Hare; Air Carrier Association of America; politics; pilots
-
A Clean Sweep
The American Prospect reports on the janitors' strike in Los Angeles in April 2000, and explains how janitors' international union, SEIU, helped them to get a wage increase of about 26%. The story looks at various labor markets and sectors of economy and examines their unions' attempts achieving pay raises. The report details the unionization of security screeners at airports, hotel workers, health care workers and nursing home workers. "In service industries that can't flee, unionization of low-wage workers can triumph, but only with heroic effort," finds the magazine.
Tags: employment; wages; low income; Justice for Janitors; labor; work force; minorities; Latino; immigrants; social issues
-
Fiscal tricks for the fat years
Governing reports on "budget gimmickry" used by state governments to balance their budgets or to increase their expenditures. The story finds that the tricks do not end when the recession ends, but just take a different character. The report looks at why state revenues overall have exceeded projections in the middle of the 90s, and examines some states' practices of "lowballing," or consistently underestimating revenues.
Tags: economy; politics; recession; revenues; economic forecasts; Virginia; South Carolina; North Carolina; Kentucky; Montana; Maryland; Tennessee; Fitch Investors Service; finance; financial control; local government; budget deficits; state funds; taxes; legislature
-
Losing Signal
"..the advent of the information economy has turned the FCC from a minor D.C. player into one of the government's most powerful agencies. As the de facto czar of the nation's communications infrastructure, the commission now makes daily decisions affecting America's technological destiny-reviewing megamergers like AOL Time Warner union, evaluating the Baby Bells' expansion plans, determining whether cable companies should decide what Web content their Internet customers can view. And no one appreciates the FCC's newfound authority better than the communications industry, whose lobbying expenses now stand at roughly $125 million, more than twice the amount spent by defense firms."
Tags: FCC; lobbying; telecommunications; "Big Media; " broadband; Internet; cable; telephone; radio; broadcast licenses; deregulation; digital transition; telcos; CFIC; Dingell; Tauzin; McCain; Lott; open access; First Amendment; location-based services (LBS); privacy; Digital Democracy; National Association of Broadcasters; NAB; analog spectrum; consolidation; government auction
-
The Jungle
The story finds that with "all the dazzling new-economy rhetoric notwithstanding, it turns out workers sometimes still need protection." The author supports the notion by focusing on recent Amazon layoffs in Seattle, and questions the perception of the company as "a worker's paradise." The investigation sheds light on Amazon's anti-union campaign. One of the main conclusions is that "Amazon's workers could have used a lot of the same protections as old economy workers, because ... they were a lot like old-economy workers." The analyses finds that "many new-economy jobs still revolve around basic service and support work."
Tags: Internet; dot-coms; information age; workforce; jobs; labor laws; Amazon