Forget K-shaped, try gray-shaped: Older Americans are powering the economy.

Why it matters: The changing demographics in the U.S. — more old people, fewer young ones — are reshaping jobs and spending in all kinds of ways.

The latest: Nearly all of the job growth in January came from the health care and social assistance sectors, per the BLS data out yesterday. Health care employment also drove much of the labor market growth last year.

How it works: "As the population ages, you need more doctors and nurses, but you also need more health aides. You need more nursing home staff," says Daniel Zhao, chief economist at Glassdoor.

• As people have fewer children, there are also fewer younger Americans available to do free care work for their elders.

The intrigue: Health-care hiring appeared to be slowing last year, says Neale Mahoney, an economist at Stanford. The rapid growth in January calls that assumption into question — though it's just one data point.

The big picture: The senior population is getting bigger as a share of the overall population. They're also getting richer.

• "From higher home prices and, more recently, surging stock prices [older Americans] are driving the train, there's no doubt about it," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.

By the numbers: About 30% of Americans were age 55 and older in 2024 — two decades ago, they made up less than one-quarter of the population.

• More than 70% of all the wealth in the country is held by people over 55, per Federal Reserve data.
• They're spending a lot of money. More than 45% of consumer spending now comes from those age 55 and older — up from less than 40% in 2020, per federal data crunched by Moody's Analytics.

Between the lines: The changing demographics help explain all kinds of new businesses and marketing trends: longevity startups, the boom in menopause companies, among them.

• You can see this not only in health-care employment, but also in travel and the financial services sectors, Zandi says.

💬 Emily's thought bubble: It's why you saw 53-year-old actress Sofia Vergara advertise Skechers Hands Free Slip-ins during the Super Bowl.

• (You can put them on without bending down — a feature coveted by those with aching backs.)

Yes, but: An aging population also creates all kinds of economic headaches: labor shortages, housing and small-business woes.

• In Japan, it has meant a surge in abandoned homes and a succession crisis for small businesses.

The bottom line: Perhaps an AARP card is the hot new ticket to economic prosperity.

We know the drill now. A new AI product launches targeting a specific industry, and the stocks of the established companies in that industry take a tumble.

Why it matters: Markets are AI twitchy — they're broadly bullish about all the spending, but also nervous over the possibility that this new technology will eat all the other companies.

State of play: Yesterday, it was real estate. Tuesday, financial services. Monday, insurance brokers. Last week, legal software.

Between the lines: A savvy investor, or AI company, could theoretically make some quick cash here, but we offer no investment advice at Axios Markets.

• We suggest not checking your 401(k) statement and touching grass, tbh.
• But for funsies, Bloomberg's Matt Levine lays out the idea in this way: "Every AI lab could short every industry, and then they could disrupt each industry when they get around to it."

The Milan Cortina games are handing out the priciest Olympic medals in over a century — and athletes are already breaking them.

Why it matters: Athletes prize medals for prestige, not cash, but soaring precious-metal prices have made the 2026 medals especially valuable.

State of play: The Olympics haven't awarded solid gold medals since the 1912 games in Stockholm, Sweden.

• The gold medals are made up of 500 grams of silver and 6 grams of gold. The silver medals are 500 grams and the bronze medals are 420.
• Gold has lately been trading over $5,000 a troy ounce, which is a bit more than 31 grams. (Silver has been trading over $80 a troy ounce.)