Hardly Working with Brent Orrell

Brent Orrell is a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and Hardly Working is his podcast about the American workforce — specifically the policy decisions, economic trends, and educational systems that shape who gets to work, what kind of work is available, and whether that work pays enough to live on. Episodes run 45 minutes to about an hour and feature interviews with economists, workforce development experts, education strategists, and policy researchers. With 133 episodes and a perfect 5.0-star rating (though from only 18 reviews), the show occupies a niche that few other work podcasts cover. Most career shows focus on individual strategy — how to get a promotion, how to negotiate your salary. Hardly Working zooms out to examine the systems. Orrell asks questions about apprenticeship programs, community college effectiveness, occupational licensing barriers, and how the criminal justice system affects employment outcomes. The AEI affiliation means the show leans center-right in its policy orientation, which is worth knowing going in. But Orrell is a thoughtful interviewer who lets his guests make their case regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum. If you work in workforce development, HR, education, or public policy — or if you are just curious about why the American labor market works the way it does — this podcast fills a gap that personality-driven career shows leave wide open. The conversations are substantive and go deep on structural questions that affect millions of workers even though most people never hear them discussed.