National

Closer

Axios Closer

Volkswagen is expected to cut 100,000 jobs in landmark downsizing

Macro

Axios Macro

Why Americans hate the "good" economy

A line chart that shows the U.S. city average price per pound of ground beef each month from May 2016 to May 2026. Prices rose from $3.72 in May 2016 to $6.75 in May 2026, peaking at $6.90 in April 2026 after a sharp jump in 2020.

Price per pound of ground beef

Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics; Chart: Neil Irwin/Axios

Exclusive: Chamath Palihapitiya bucks AI job apocalypse on "The Axios Show"

Chamath Palihapitiya on job prospects for today's teenagers

The labor market's quiet upgrade

Fed leaves rates steady in Warsh's first meeting

Vitals

Axios Vitals

Nursing home staffing rebounds from COVID levels

A line chart that tracks monthly U.S. nursing home and residential facility staffing from January 2016 to May 2026. Staffing rose from 3.3 million in January 2016 to 3.49 million in May 2026. It fell to about 2.97 million in November 2021, then climbed steadily through 2026.

U.S. nursing home and residential facility staffing

Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics; Chart: Maya Goldman/Axios

Mom and dad are both breadwinners in most families for first time

A line chart that shows the share of U.S. families with both parents working full-time every 10 years from 1975 to 2025. The share rises from 31% in 1975 to 52% in 2025, with a small dip from 45% in 1995 to 44% in 2005.

Share of U.S. families with both parents working full-time

Data: U.S. Census Current Population Survey data analyzed by Pew; Chart: Noah Bressner/Axios

Key Trump economic win disappears: Wage gains wiped out

Real wage growth since Trump took office

Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics; Note: Real wages are average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory workers adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index; Chart: Courtenay Brown/Axios

White-collar jobs are under pressure, but the labor market is fine

White-collar jobs are under pressure, but labor market fine

A line chart that tracks cumulative payroll employment change for core white-collar and all other private employment from May 2021 to May 2026. Core white-collar rises to 7.04% in April-May 2023, then falls to 4.89% by May 2026. Other private employment climbs steadily to 12.03%

Change in payroll employment

Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics; Note: Core white-collar is the sum of employment in financial activities, information, and professional and business services sectors; Chart: Neil Irwin/Axios

Exclusive: Nasdaq sees AI behind solo founder boom

An area chart showing monthly new business applications from January 2015 to April 2026. Applications for both single- and multi-employee businesses spiked after the initial COVID shutdowns, going from a total of 300k to a high of 547k. Single-employee companies also rose after the releases of Chat GPT in 2022 and agentic coding in 2025.

Monthly new business applications

Data: Nasdaq Economic Institute analysis of Census Bureau data; Chart: Axios Visuals

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The developments that matter in where and how much people are working.