As the world recovers from the pandemic and the recession, companies are facing a unique challenge in hiring: Talent and jobs are not necessarily in the same places. Although globalization has brought us all closer, pay challenges have varied widely by location, and the effects of the pandemic have been unevenly distributed.

When people can work from anywhere, it changes a company’s culture as well as its tax obligations. While some big tech companies have tried to cut salaries for employees moving away from the San Francisco Bay Area, other companies have experimented with location-agnostic pay, hiring global talent on a universal pay scale. Some employers entice hard-to-find workers in challenging locations with hazard pay. 

In this issue, we’ll explore unique places, such as the working-class German city whose economy depends on its football club. You’ll meet a postmaster at the “penguin post office” in Antarctica, hear from six working people in Cape Town, South Africa, and get to know the bustling city-state of Singapore. You’ll also travel back in time to rural West Virginia, when company cash was king, and experience the rise of the ATM, just 40 years ago.