One industry official says a path to citizenship would improve conditions in the industry, which relies heavily on immigrant labor.

Los Angeles is home to a large slice of the world's bluejeans trade. But as the U.S. apparel industry continues to shrink, the city's high-end bluejeans business faces a threat. The European Union has imposed a nearly 40 percent tariff, which could cripple the city's jean business.

While the economy added 165,000 jobs in April, a closer look shows that the biggest gains were in lower-paying fields like hospitality and temp agencies. And there's some question as to whether there will be enough jobs for students once the school year ends.

An appeals court in New York will allow J.C. Penney to continue selling a new line of housewares designed by Martha Stewart. The ruling nixes an attempt by Macy's to obtain an order that would block Penney from selling the collection. In other Martha Stewart news, she has joined the dating site Match.com in search of romantic adventure.

Thousands of cars were damaged or destroyed by Superstorm Sandy. Others were simply left unclaimed. Now six months after the storm, the car market is beginning to stabilize.

The founders of financially troubled Fisker Automotive were grilled by Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill Wednesday. The electric car maker received a $529 million loan from the Department of Energy in 2009. The carmaker is now on the edge of collapse. Fisker has laid off most of its employees and hired bankruptcy advisers.

With ad sales soaring, Google posted a 16 percent increase in first quarter profits. Google earned more than $3.3 billion during the quarter. Another big player in the technology sector, Microsoft also posted positive earnings.

Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda simultaneously announced a global recall of nearly 3.4 million vehicles to replace defective air bags. The faulty air bags could deploy with excessive force and send shards of metal into the passenger side area. Coordinated recalls are unusual in the auto industry.

The Focus is the best-selling "nameplate" worldwide, followed by the Toyota Corolla, new data shows. Ford's sales have jumped in recent years as it dropped unsuccessful models and adopted a single global manufacturing system.

California's economy is a study in contrasts. The state's unemployment rate — 9.8 percent — is tied with Rhode Island for the highest in the country. Parts of the state are still suffering mightily from the housing collapse. But there are also large pockets of job growth and revival.

Toyota, Honda and other Japanese automakers are doing just fine in the U.S. Sales have rebounded, buoyed by a weaker yen and the usual lineup of reliable cars. In the home market of Japan, however, the car makers are struggling.

The Environment Protection Agency has proposed new rules that will require cars to run on cleaner gas. The rules are intended to lower sulfur emission and reduce smog, and they'd go into effect in 2017. NPR's Sonari Glinton reports they're similar to standards in place in California.

A report by analysts at Citigroup says a shift from oil to natural gas that began in the United States is about to follow suit in other countries. The report says gas may supplant oil for generating electricity in the developing world and will also become more commonly used for transportation.

Ford has said it is sorry for print ads depicting three bound and gagged women stuffed in the trunk of an Indian-made compact car. The ads, created by an Indian agency, were never distributed commercially, and were apparently not intended for release.

Both housing and the stock market have been on the upswing in recent months. But a full recovery in the housing market would be more significant to the overall economy. That's because more Americans have something at stake in home values than in stock prices.

Federal prosecutors have indicted the former CEO of the California Public Employees' Retirement System and a former fund board member on fraud charges. The two deny the charges, which culminate a federal investigation into alleged corruption by the two men.

After more than 100 years of ups and downs, General Motors has a lot of history. Most of GM's history is in the form of cars — hundreds of actual individual cars. The company tries to keep at least two of each car in storage. NPR's Sonari Glinton went on a walk through GM's attic to find out about the company's past and future.

In the latest example of porous computer security, hackers have posted financial information about celebrities and political figures, including Michelle Obama, Vice President Biden, Beyonce and Ashton Kutcher.

The February jobs reports came in stronger than expected. Employers added 236,000 new jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent. But is the uptick in hiring likely to be sustained?

The idea behind Small Business Saturday is to direct consumers to mom-and-pop stores that probably didn't get swamped by the Black Friday bonanza. These small businesses might not have the best deal on a TV, but experts say they are an important factor in overall economic recovery.