Booming
A weekly podcast about the economic forces shaping our lives here in the Pacific Northwest.
The Seattle area's been home to many booms over the years. It’s brought jobs, people, and wealth to the region, but also real growing pains that people here feel every day. In Booming, KUOW economy reporters Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg help listeners make sense of our ever-changing economy. We'll dig into what people are seeing or feeling and unpack the story behind it.
Cover art by Alicia Villa.
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Episodes
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From software engineer to bus driver: Where laid off tech workers are now
Tech workers are on the frontlines of a major shift in our economy. Where have the laid off tech workers gone? And what can the rest of us learn from the first shock in the AI earthquake?
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From Control F: The weird way we decide who sits below the poverty line
A special episode brought to us by our friends at Control F: the surprising history of the federal poverty line.
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Will this summer's World Cup be an economic win for Seattle?
The World Cup is coming to Seattle this summer. Will the reward of hosting these games be worth the cost?
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Grocery sticker shock and the rise of the dollar-store dinner
Creative hacks for putting food on the table now that your dollar doesn’t go as far as it used to.
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This bill could let you downsize your way to home ownership in Washington
Washington state legislators want to let people live in tiny homes and RVs in backyards and driveways year round. If their bill passes, it could unlock the least expensive path to homeownership available. But critics worry about a "Cousin Eddie" problem.
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Could the hottest real estate market become... driveways?
State legislators want to make it legal to live in an RV in someone’s backyard or driveway year-round. Could that reduce the state's housing shortage?
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The great data center space race includes a small company in Redmond
Elon Musk wants to put AI data centers in orbit. A company in Redmond beat him to it.
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The great data center space race
Data centers needed more space, so they literally moved there.
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16,000 Amazon employees just lost their jobs. Are we in a tech recession?
It's the latest in a series of tech layoffs over the past few years that have pushed Seattle’s unemployment rate well above the national rate.
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Amazon lays off 16,000 employees in major reduction of force
Amazon told about 16,000 corporate employees they’ll soon be out of a job early Wednesday morning. It’s part two of a 30,000-person layoff the company began in October. Taken together, it’s the largest layoff in the e-commerce giant’s history, and it marks a dramatic shift in the tech industry from a decade-long talent war to the artificial intelligence race.
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Lessons from the state that made child care free
In November, New Mexico became the first state to launch free, universal child care. So what can Washington learn from the state that managed to pull it off?
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How a bad bet built the internet: a short history of bubbles
Sometimes, an economic crash leaves something good behind that we may not appreciate for years. This week, we look at bubbles from the past and ask: When the money burns away, what’s left?