Axios PM

March 01, 2024
Happy Friday afternoon. Today's newsletter, edited by Sam Baker, is 497 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.
1 big thing: The "she-conomy" is booming
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Women are opening more businesses, landing more high-paying jobs and establishing major footholds in industries that men have traditionally dominated, Axios' Hope King and Erica Pandey write.
By the numbers: New data from Yelp shows significant increases in the number of home services companies β like plumbing and HVAC repair β owned by women.
- π¨ Listings within the home services category that were created by women grew 38% in 2023, according to Yelp, outpacing the national average, and the increases are even bigger in certain areas and certain industries.
- π·ββοΈ Boston, for example, saw a 500% jump in women-led listings for general contractors.
- β‘οΈ Women-created businesses overall increased 17% in 2023, per Yelp.
πββοΈ Zoom out: Women make up 47% of America's workforce, per Pew Research Center, and 51% of the college-educated workforce.
- They hold 35% of the highest-paying jobs in the U.S., up from 13% in 1980.
Why it matters: After a historic pandemic-era setback, women are driving all sorts of economic gains β from entrepreneurship to consumption.
2. U.S. will airdrop aid to Gaza

The U.S. will begin airdropping humanitarian aid into Gaza, President Biden said today.
The big picture: The move underscores the growing concerns within the Biden administration about the worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza and the difficulties of getting aid into the enclave, Axios' Barak Ravid writes.
- The UN has warned that "famine is almost inevitable" if nothing changes.
- The move comes as Biden faces growing pressure abroad and at home to do more to restrain Israel and get more aid in Gaza.
Yes, but: U.S. officials have acknowledged that aid airdrops have a limited impact. A U.S. military plane could only drop the equivalent of what one or two aid trucks can carry.
3. Catch me up

- π·πΊ Thousands of people defied the Kremlin to attend Alexei Navalny's funeral in Moscow, The Wall Street Journal reports.
- π Walgreens and CVS plan to start offering mifepristone this month. Conservatives have sought to limit access to the abortion drug, and the Supreme Court is hearing arguments over those efforts later this month. Go deeper.
- The Smokehouse Creek Fire has grown to a staggering 1.1 million acres, making it the largest fire in Texas history. Go deeper.
4. π New fish discovered
The newly discovered tailspot wrasse. Photo: Allison and Carlos Estape, courtesy of Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Scientists recently discovered a new type of fish β not in the unexplored depths, but right under their noses in a marine preserve that's popular with scuba divers.
π€Ώ The Halichoeres sanchezi was discovered in an underwater field of volcanic rubble and lava boulders near the remote islands of the Revillagigedo Archipelago, Axios San Diego co-author Kate Murphy reports.
- The Mexican islands are a popular destination for recreational scuba divers hoping to see sharks, manta rays, humpback whales and sea turtles.
- And it's probably the only place this fish lives, researchers said. The islands' isolation and legal protections created a "window back in time to before intensive fishing," UC San Diego's Ben Frable said.
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