“Covering Your Local Economy” was first offered on Aug. 21, 2013, as part of the Asian American Journalists Association’s pre-conference schedule. The economy is still the biggest story going, and these resources will equip you with the story ideas and skills you need to tackle economic stories on any beat. Get armed with the tools and understanding you need to tackle local economic stories, including those in the labor and housing markets. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN How to find the economic angle in stories on any beat, How to use statistics to find and develop local economic stories, How to find fresh angles on the job and housing markets in your town, and What 10 stories on the economy you should jump on now. YOUR INSTRUCTORS Marilyn Geewax is the national economics correspondent for NPR. Geewax is regularly heard discussing economic news on Tell Me More, Talk of the Nation and Weekend Edition. Her work contributed to NPR’s 2011 Edward R. Murrow Award for Hard News for “The Foreclosure Nightmare.” Follow her on Twitter at @geewaxnpr Meena Thiruvengadam is business channel manager at Digital First Media’s Project Thunderdome. Previously, she covered the Treasury, Federal Reserve and economic news for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal in Washington. Follow her on Twitter at @Meena_Thiru. SELF-GUIDED LESSON Review the workshop materials below and discover new ways to cover local economic angles. PowerPoint presentations Covering Your Local Economy: It’s Everybody’s Business — Geewax When Will the Jobs Come Back? — Geewax What’s Happening with Housing — Geewax 10 Local Economic Stories to Jump on Now — Thiruvengadam For more information about training for business journalists, please visit businessjournalism.org.

1. Covering Your Local Economy:
It's Everybody's Business
In 2013 …
Marilyn Geewax
NPR Senior Business Editor
mgeewax@npr.org
@geewaxnpr

2. Geewax
Marilyn
Akron
Beacon
Journal
The
Atlanta
Journal-­‐
Cons4tu4on
Cox
Washington
Bureau
NPR

3. Geewax
Marilyn
• Currently senior business editor for NPR’s
National Desk
• She was the national economics
correspondent for Cox Newspapers’
Washington Bureau.
• Prior to 1999, worked for the Cox flagship
paper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
• Geewax earned a master’s degree at
Georgetown University, where she focused
on international economic affairs.
• From 2001 to 2006, Geewax taught a
business journalism class as an adjunct
professor at George Washington University.

4. What We Will Explore Today
• The Great Recession – What Happened?
• How Are We Doing Now?
• What Is Driving the Recovery?
• What's Likely to Happen Next?
• Can You Tell If Your Area Is Doing Better
Or Worse Than the Rest of the USA?

5. Six Years of Troubles

6. Try to Remember…
• Think Back to 2007.
• Did You Realize Then That The U.S.
Economy Was Tanking?

7. You Rarely Know What’s
Happening in Such a Big Economy
The slowdown in the housing sector
“is a concern, but at this point we
don't see it as being a broad
financial concern or a major factor
in assessing the course of the
economy.”
-- Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke
Speaking to the House in Feb. 2007.

8. 2008 Was A Brutal Year For
The Gross Domestic Product
Bureau of Economic Analysis data

9. Unemployment Shot Up,
Then Drifted Down
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000

10. Searching for Work For Months
– The Key Problem

11. So Where Are We Now?
Based On What You're Seeing,
What's Likely To Happen Next?
• A recession
• A boom
• Slow growth
• I don’t know.
.

12. What Happen In
The First Half of 2013?
Q. Another Slump? Or A Boom?
A. Most economists say the economy has
been growing, but at a sluggish pace.

13. http://data.bls.gov/timeseri
Jobless Rate – The Key Number
• 7.4 percent today, which is lousy
• But in October 2009, it was 10 percent

14. Nearly 12 Million Still
Searching For Jobs
Nearly 5 million are Long-Term Unemployed

15. But We Have Good News, Too
Jobs Are Returning In Many Sectors
And the Economy Has Been Growing For
Four Years

16. 3.8 Million Job Openings –
Mostly For Skilled Workers

17. GDP Is At Least Steady

18. New-Home Sales Up Sharply
from the Same Time Last Year

19. Some Economists Think 2014
Could Bring Much Better Growth
Three reasons:
1. Energy Expansion
2. Agriculture Boom
3. Construction Resumption

20. Booming Oil Industry Struggling
to Fill Job Openings

21. Farmers Have Been Adding Land
Abby Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media

22. New-Home Sales Create Jobs for
Landscapers, Furniture Stores, Etc.

23. How Can You Tell If Your Area
Is Doing Better?
• Jobs, Jobs, Jobs (BLS.gov)
• Home Prices (S&P/Case-Shiller Index)
• Home Foreclosures (RealtyTrac)
• Local Bankers (Is Lending Improving?)
• Local Car Dealers (What Are People
Buying? Trucks for Work??)

24. America Will Recover When
Jobs Come Back