Episode description

Global payday loans: Laurie Taylor talks to Carl Packman, a researcher and writer, who has analysed the growth of a worldwide industry. Today there are more payday lender shops in the US than McDonald's restaurants. They cater mainly to those without access to mainstream credit and with no other option. But how did they evolve and proliferate? And what is their impact on the most financially vulnerable consumers? He's joined by Johnna Montogomery, an economist from Goldsmiths, London.

Also, redundancy at a Welsh aluminium plant. Tony Dobbins, Reader in Employment Studies at Bangor Business School, asks why re-training has failed to provide jobless workers with a fresh future.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.