Labor force participation dropped last month

The latest jobs report is out Friday, and overall it’s pretty
middling — some details are good news; others not so much. One
data point sounding economic alarms? The labor force
participation rate, which fell to 62.4% in May after several
years of general growth since the height of the pandemic. In this
episode, we explain what’s going on. Plus: E-commerce exporters
in China describe the “rollercoaster” of keeping up with tariffs,
and California’s Central Valley experiments with agricultural
innovation.


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