Low-Wage Workers Are Getting a Raise, And Economists Are Getting an Experiment
– FiveThirtyEight
The new year brought raises to millions of low-wage workers. It also begins the country’s first large-scale experiment in the economic effects of a double-digit minimum wage. In total, six states plus the District of Columbia now have minimum wages of at least $10 an hour.

‘Routine’ Jobs Are Disappearing
– The Wall Street Journal
Middle-class “routine” jobs are disappearing. Workers with a relatively narrow set of repeated tasks, such as welding-machine operators or bank tellers, must instead take on lower-paying low-skill manual work or simply drop out of the labor force. New research finds that the transformation of work in the U.S. is contributing to the shrinking labor-force participation rate.

Will 2017 Be the Year We Get Serious About Sustainable Food?
– The Guardian
Each American devours, on average, 1,996 lbs. (nearly a ton) of food per year. Increasingly, businesses from farms to retailers are under pressure to reduce the environmental and social impact of growing produce and processed food for America’a huge appetite.

How Inequality Leads to Obesity
– Pacific Standard Magazine
Everyone who has ever turned to their friends Ben and Jerry for solace is aware that painful emotions often lead to overeating. Yet when discussing the obesity epidemic among low-income families, policymakers tend to focus on more tangible factors, such as the cost and availability of healthy food. Researchers have begun pointing out this underlying problem.