Moms are quitting — or getting pushed out. Workforce participation for mothers in the U.S. has been dropping for most of this year, and the reasons are more complicated than return-to-office mandates. Today on the show, we talk to moms about why they left their jobs and to economist Misty Heggeness, who has studied the phenomenon.

Find more of Misty’s research here.

Related episodes:
How insurance is affecting the cost of childcare
Women, work and the pandemic
That time America paid for universal daycare

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

There’s been a lot of big talk about how artificial intelligence is going to replace white collar workers. But what data do we actually have around AI’s impact on the workforce? Today on the show, we speak to an expert who has measured one aspect of these changes. She tells us how this moment in AI compares to the Industrial Revolution.

Related episodes:
AI creates, transforms, and destroys… jobs
The golden ages of labor and looms

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Related episodes:
Three ways companies are getting around tariffs
What olive oil tells us about Trump's tariffs
What is Temu?

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Cooper Katz McKim. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

A booming underground vape market is thriving. It’s unapproved, unregulated, and risky. Today on the show, we hear from The Atlantic’s Nick Florko to dig into why illegal vapes have flooded the U.S., and what’s at stake.

Related episodes:
The vapes of wrath
How sports gambling blew up

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

It’s … Indicators of the Week! Our weekly look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news.

On today’s episode: AI shuts out youth from the grind, China leaves U.S. soybeans behind, Gap has the then-and-now in marketing mind.

Related episodes:
AI creates, transforms and destroys... jobs
What do farmers do in a trade war?

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez and Julia Ritchey. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Last night, President Donald Trump posted a letter firing Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook. The reason? She was accused of listing two properties as her primary residences, which potentially gave her more favorable lending terms. This marks another escalation in the president’s battle for control of America’s central bank.

We’re publishing our conversation early about whether this is legal, what the Fed might do, and how the Fed’s independence is more fragile than we may think.

Related episodes:

Should presidents have more of a say in interest rates?

Can the Federal Reserve stay independent?

It's hard out there for a Fed chair

Patent Racism
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy