It's a very good time to be an employed, married homeowner in America, Axios' Dave Lawler writes.

• It's a very bad time to be looking for those things.

The big picture: Generations of Americans have seen a job, a spouse and a house as waypoints in pursuit of the American Dream. Fewer young Americans are on that track than in decades past.

Consider three trends:

1. 💼 Unemployment is low, but so are new job postings.
2. 💍 Divorce is down, but so is marriage.
3. 🚪 Home values are at historic highs in much of the U.S., but home sales are the slowest in a generation.

Zoom in: The labor market is frozen.

• Very low rates of Americans with jobs are quitting or being fired each month. But those on the unemployment rolls are now staying there longer than at any time since before the pandemic.
• Employers are instead experimenting with AI to make their workforces more productive, Axios' Courtenay Brown reports.
• 🎓 Young college grads are hit especially hard by this phenomenon, as entry-level roles are particularly hard to find.

Annual marriage and divorce rates have also both been in long-term decline in the U.S.

🏠 Finally, 2025 is shaping up to be one of the worst years for home sales in a generation — possibly the worst in 30 years, per analyst Heather Long.

• Lack of supply keeps values high for people who already have homes, and makes homeownership that much less attainable for many who don't.
• Folks who locked in super-low mortgage rates a few years ago are sitting particularly pretty.
• Now, with high rates and record-high prices in much of the country, millions of Americans are deferring buying homes or giving up entirely.

The intrigue: Americans are waiting longer to get married, and fewer are getting married period.

• Cohabitating among romantic partners is also way down. Surveys even suggest teen dating has dropped dramatically.
• As The Atlantic's Derek Thompson puts it, "marriage is becoming much rarer and much more stable."

🕰️ Reality check: Not everyone wants to get married, or to stay in their marriage. Some Americans who could buy a house don't want to.

• The job market could also soon get better for those who don't have jobs, or worse for those who do.

The bottom line: Millions of younger Americans might be stuck on the other side of the white picket fence, looking in.

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College-educated women, particularly mothers, have made big strides at work in recent years.

• Women without degrees have a less rosy picture, Axios' Emily Peck reports from Third Way data analysis shared exclusively with Axios.

📍 Why it matters: Job quality is a likely factor. Women with degrees often get paid leave and flexibility like remote work— key for balancing jobs and parenting responsibilities, which they're more likely to shoulder.

• Women without degrees are more often in low-wage, service roles with erratic schedules.
• "It's hard to say that we're making progress ... if only those with college degrees seemed to be the ones benefiting," Third Way's Curran McSwigan told Axios.

By the numbers: 73% of college-educated women (25–44) work full time — up from 64% two decades ago.

• Women without degrees' participation in the workforce barely budged at 53%. That's up one percentage point over that same period.
• The share of mothers working full-time spiked to 68% in 2024, from 57% in 2004; there was no change for moms who didn't finish college.

🚫 Friction point: The education divide is even worse for men.

• The share of men without college degrees in the workforce has been declining for years, for different reasons — and not merely stagnating.

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After Senate leaders failed to fast-track more of President Trump's nominees before recess, Republicans are vowing to change the rules when they return in September, Axios' Stef Kight and Stephen Neukam report.

• Why it matters: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) refused to back down from his demands. Trump ultimately gave Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) cover to let his fatigued conference go home and reset yesterday evening— setting the stage for a renewed fight this fall.

⚖️ Zoom in: Senate Republicans are eyeing rules changes to counter Democrats' stonewalling of civil nominee confirmations. It's unclear what exact changes they'll pursue.

• Some options include eliminating procedural votes; shortening debate time; voting on nominees en bloc; or shortening the list of positions requiring confirmation.

Recess appointments — mentioned again yesterday — remain another path forward.

• After days of heated arguments among lawmakers, Trump seemed to permit senators to head home for the scheduled break on Truth Social, where he also said Schumer should "GO TO HELL!"

💥 The other side: Top Senate Democrats slammed a potential GOP move to change Senate rules for confirming more Trump nominees, calling it a "nuclear" option.

• Democrats want Republican concessions, like unfreezing some federal funding, before agreeing to advance the logjam of nominees.

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MAGA's growing independence is a warning to the GOP's next leader about the risks of inheriting a populist juggernaut, Axios' Tal Axelrod reports.

• Why it matters: Even when Trump is out of sync with MAGA — like on Jeffrey Epstein — he brings supporters to heel. That power stems from deep loyalty and shared enemies forged over a decade of political warfare.
• Any Republican with presidential ambitions will have to woo the base to even approach Trump's grassroots dominance.

📣 What they're saying: Breitbart editor-in-chief Alex Marlow told Axios there's a blueprint for MAGA's next leader, but that "they are going to have to earn it" like Trump did.

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🐇 An AI-generated video of rabbits jumping on a trampoline that went viral this week was widely believed to be real — a reminder that even cute animal clips aren't safe from the rise of AI "slop," Axios' Megan Morrone reports.

• Why it matters: All the fake AI-generated content online is sapping the joy of casual scrolling.

It's not just animal videos. AI-generated images are popping up in gardening forums, knitting communities and the entire DIY aesthetic on Pinterest. These images lack the charm and imperfection of real people and hobbies or interests.

• Fake influencers have been slipping into our feeds for years, but they're getting harder to spot now that image generators have mastered fingers — though they still struggle with knees.
• With the bunnies, young TikTokers quickly expressed their fear that falling for the AI made them feel old.

😵‍💫 Zoom out: AI-generated oddities are showing up in our feeds more often because they're lucrative for creators.

• The weirder it is, the more time we spend looking at it, signaling the algorithm that we want to see more like it.

What to watch: Platforms themselves must stop incentivizing the slop.

• If you open up Instagram and all you see is AI slop, you might stop opening up Instagram.

Go deeper ... Get Axios: AI+.

Companies that import and sell Christmas trees, twinkling lights and other holiday decorations say they've been hammered by tariffs, Axios' Emily Peck reports.

• Why it matters: Expect higher prices and fewer choices for holiday supplies — with industry leaders warning of shortages.

💬 "There's no question it will be harder to find the exact tree and decor you want this year," says Jami Warner of the American Christmas Tree Association.

😤 Where it stands: Christmas executives (yes, that's a thing) have had to be real Scrooges since President Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs. They've laid off workers, canceled or cut back imports and raised prices to deal.

• One exec said he has a loan of about $1 million, backed by his house, that he may need to tap to pay tariffs.

🔻 The intrigue: It's not totally clear that consumers will see all these price increases.

• Plenty of folks have their ornaments and trees safely stored away for reuse every year.

Read on.

Men now make up a record one-third of Pinterest's total global audience of 570 million active users, Axios' Natalie Daher writes from the company's inaugural trend report on men.

• 📱 Guys' biggest searches on the platform — dressing for Pilates, upping their skincare game and being better parents — contrasts with coverage of their online habits and hyper-masculine stereotypes
• They're using the platform for "aspirational, aesthetic, and positive discovery," largely rejecting the toxicity found elsewhere online, says Mike DelMoro, senior manager of creator and media relations.

Zoom in: Parenting is something men on Pinterest are trying to get right.

• Their searches for "milestone pictures" — photos that document babies' earliest months — and "smart parenting" were up 415% and 125%, respectively, according to internal search data collected between Feb. 2024 and 2025.

Keep reading.

For over 40 years, Tom Carr, 75, of Hillsborough, N.C., has logged near-daily runs — totaling 60,000+ miles outdoors.

• 🎖️ Now, the retired school counselor is prepping for his biggest feat yet: a 100-mile ultramarathon later this month, Axios Raleigh co-author Zachery Eanes reports.
• The race, called A Race for the Ages in Tennessee, will give him exactly 75 hours to finish the 100 miles. It starts Aug. 28.

🔁 Carr's story is a masterclass in the power of showing up. He credits running with sharpening his mind and helping him write 15 books on education issues.

• One of the hardest moments of his life came last year: losing Carlye, his partner of 53 years, to the effects of Alzheimer's.
• 💜 Carr is hoping to use the 100-mile race to raise money for the Alzheimer's Association in her honor.
• "If I wasn't able to get out of the house and go running, I don't know how I would have survived that difficult period of time," Carr said of his wife's health.

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