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National

Top 10 metro areas where young women earn more than young men

Data: Pew Research Center analysis of 2015-19 American Community Survey(IPUMS); Chart: Baidi Wang/Axios

Women under 30 out-earned men in 16 cities across the country, including New York and Washington, D.C., a Pew Research analysis of Census data through 2019 finds.

Why it matters: The gender wage penalty is less severe when women are just starting out in their careers. Women age 16-29 earn 93%, on average, of what men make, compared with 84% for all women. 

Young women and men earned about the same in 6 cities. And in the other 228 cities Pew analyzed, young women earned less than men. In the other 228 cities Pew analyzed, young women earned less than men.

Between the lines: The cities where women are getting ahead generally have plenty of jobs that require higher levels of education, says Marianne Cooper, a sociologist at Stanford who studies women and leadership. And women have been earning more college degrees than men for decades.

The big picture: This edge in pay likely won't last as these women grow older. Women are promoted at a slower pace, Cooper said. And those who have children typically face a wage penalty. (Fathers typically get a wage bump.)

"It’s unlikely that this finding will hold in the long run," Cooper said.

Yes, but: This data is from 2015-2019, and women's wages have actually been rising faster than men's lately, as a labor shortage pushes up pay. 

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to state that young women outearned men in 16 cities (not 22).

Young women earn more than men in 16 U.S. cities

Women's edge in pay isn't likely to last as they get older

Gender pay gap

Economy

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

Finish Line

Axios Finish Line

Axios AM

COVID didn't just upend where we work, but when we work.

Why it matters: That frees night owls from the cages of 9-to-5 societal rhythms.

What's happening: Research shows roughly half of people are night owls, dictated by genetics, not choice.  Not having to go into the office allows them to work — and often sleep — later. 

A staggering 76% of global companies are allowing hybrid work, meaning most employees can work from anywhere, at any time, on their own terms.

The 9–to-5 workday is fading, with more people hopping on their computers at breakfast time and past happy hour, a Microsoft Work Trends report found.

The three of us are each early birds: Mike gets up at 2:30 a.m. (not a typo), Jim at 4:30 a.m. and Erica at 5 a.m. So we're in bed by 9ish.

Erica switched to an early, consistent wake-up time mid-pandemic.

She saw immediate benefits to her physical health, with more time to exercise ... work, with hours of uninterrupted focus before the world logs on ... and mental health, since rhythm and routine kill anxiety.

But for the majority of adults, natural bedtime is after midnight, the National Institutes of Health says.

"Each of us has a personalized rhythm known as a chronotype — an internal timer that governs when we naturally fall asleep and when we are most alert," Emily Laber-Warren, a longtime science journalist, writes in a New York Times op-ed.

Zoom out: You have 351 genes, expressed in your brain, your retinas and beyond, that control when you feel sleepy and when you're alert, per a study published in Nature Communications.

Alphabet/Google CEO Sundar Pichai told The Wall Street Journal he gets a second wind around 9 p.m. and is most productive after 10. He's still up early enough — between 6:30 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. But he saves the morning for reflection.

Prolific author Michael Lewis says his ideal writing hours are from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. It's all about the peace and quiet, he told Robert Boynton in his 2005 book, "The New New Journalism."

Singer Christina Aguilera says: "If it were up to me, my favorite time to work would be between 3 to 4 a.m."

The bottom line: One of the best ways to improve your life and work is to get in tune with your internal clock. And now you can live by it.

🏁 Editor's note: This article appeared first in Axios Finish Line, a new newsletter in the Axios Daily Essentials package.

Night owl gets the worm

The new working world frees us from the cages of 9-to-5 societal rhythms

Illustration of an owl winking while holding a one hundred dollar bill in its beak

Sleep

A Red Cross convoy on Saturday that is attempting to evacuate Ukrainian civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol has not yet reached the port city, an International Committee of the Red Cross spokesperson told CNN.

The latest: The team is "spending the night en route to Mariupol and are yet to reach the city," the spokesperson said, per CNN. 

Driving the news: The ICRC team of three vehicles and nine personnel tried on Friday to help citizens leave, but "arrangements and conditions made it impossible to proceed," according to a statement.

"They will try again on Saturday to facilitate the safe passage of civilians from Mariupol," the group said. 

The big picture: The port city of Mariupol has faced weeks of Russian military bombardment. Officials say thousands of people remain trapped, with food, water and medicine in short supply. 

A humanitarian corridor has been planned for Saturday to help people evacuating by private transport from Mariupol and by buses for Mariupol residents out of the city of Berdyansk, Reuters reports.

"For the operation to succeed, it is critical that the parties respect the agreements and provide the necessary conditions and security guarantees," the ICRC said.

What they're saying: "There is no Plan B here, we have been working for weeks and telling the media about our efforts to get into Mariupol with aid and to allow the safe passage of civilians out of the city," an ICRC spokesperson told journalists in Geneva, according to the United Nations.

"Time is running out for the people of Mariupol."

Go deeper: In photos: Mariupol devastated after weeks of Russian bombardment

Editor's note: This story has been updated with new information on the International Committee for the Red Cross's efforts to reach Mariupol. 

Red Cross evacuation convoy struggling to reach Mariupol

The convoy is "spending the night en route to Mariupol and are yet to reach the city."

Passengers disembark as a convoy of 30 buses carrying evacuees from Mariupol and Melitopol arrive at the registration center in Zaporizhzhia, on April 1, 2022

Passengers disembark as a convoy of 30 buses carrying evacuees from Mariupol and Melitopol arrive at the registration center in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on April 1. Photo: Emre Caylak/AFP via Getty Images

Russian invasion of Ukraine

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World

Good afternoon, and welcome to our Deep Dive on the latest cancer treatments and survival rates, led by the Axios health care and science teams.

Sign up for Axios Vitals, Axios Science and Axios Pro Health Tech Deals.

Axios AM Deep Dive: Cancer breakthroughs

A progress report on the latest cancer treatments and survival rates.

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Deep Dive - Cancer

The U.S. health system faces critical questions about cost, access and equity. Technological advances and new discoveries about diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s are transforming patient care and reshaping public health.

Health

News and analysis of the scientific advances fueling AI and quantum computing, revolutionizing biology and medicine, and tackling climate change. Science is changing the world and colliding with the global politics that shape it.

Science

President Biden on Thursday ordered a historic release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an effort to curb gas prices.

Driving the news: Biden is ordering the release an average of 1 million barrels per day for the next six months, which senior administration officials say will "shore up global supplies." 

"The bottom line is if we want lower gas prices we need to have more oil supply right now," Biden said. 

Biden's release — as much as 180 million barrels total — is by far the largest SPR release in U.S. history. 

What is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? 

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve holds about 568 million barrels of crude oil in underground salt caverns along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. 

 The reserve is an emergency oil stockpile intended to offset any oil import disruptions, according to the Department of Energy, created in response to the oil embargo of 1973-74.

The reserve was originally intended as an emergency response tool during an "economically-threatening disruption in oil supplies," per the Department of Energy. 

A presidential emergency release has occurred just three times in the reserve's history — in 1991 at the beginning of Operation Desert Storm, after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and in June 2011 in response to crude oil supply disruptions in Libya and other countries.

Under a sale, such as what Biden announced today, the U.S. directs the Energy Department to conduct a public sale of oil, typically through a competitive auction, and the highest bidder receives the oil. 

The Department of Energy can also tap into the reserve and offer barrels to private companies through exchange agreements, typically after local natural disasters, such as in the wake of Hurricane Ida. 

During exchanges, an entity, typically an oil refiner, borrows crude oil for a short time period and later replaces it in full, along with a premium of an additional quantity of oil.  

How long will it take for the oil to enter the market? 

 The maximum drawdown capability is 4.4 million barrels a day and it takes 13 days for the oil to enter the market from the time of the presidential decision, according to the Energy Department. 

Will Biden's announcement lower gas prices? 

It depends: "It will lower the oil price a little and encourage more demand," Scott Sheffield, chief executive of Pioneer Natural Resources, a major Texas oil company, told the New York Times.

"But it is still a Band-Aid on a significant shortfall of supply," Sheffield said.

JPMorgan said Friday that the release of oil barrels from the emergency reserve could help stabilize oil prices in 2022, but a larger than expected loss in Russian oil supplies could leave 2023 in a "deep deficit," Markets Insider reports.

Go deeper: Biden ordering massive release of oil in bid to curb gas prices

Editor's note: This story has been updated with a statement from JPMorgan.

How the Strategic Petroleum Reserve works

Biden's release is by far the largest SPR release in U.S. history.

A gas pump in Washington, DC, on March 31, 2022

A gas pump in Washington, DC, on March 31, 2022. Photo: Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Gas prices

Breaking climate science and policy coverage as extreme weather events reshape communities. Keep tabs on the race to a low carbon economy, which may be bumpy as governments, climate tech startups and major oil and gas companies race to find their niche amid the changing energy landscape.

Energy & Climate

Media Trends

Axios Media Trends

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Axios Pro Rata

Former President Trump’s social media app Truth Social remains unavailable for many, despite promises that it would be "fully operational" in the U.S. by Thursday.

Why it matters: Trump fans flooded into a SPAC that agreed to take Truth Social public and could lose their investments if the app doesn't get its act together. 

The SPAC is said to be under federal investigation and Thursday missed a filing deadline because of what it said were accounting delays.

Shares of that SPAC are down 35% since March 4, and down 64% from their all-time high, including a 2% dip on Friday.

Behind the scenes: Sources tell Axios that tech issues are likely what's preventing the app from being released to all interested users.

Details: When Truth Social first appeared in Apple's App Store, it told people to expect a Feb. 21 launch date. But, when Presidents Day hit, prospective users were given waitlist numbers that, for many, still haven't changed.

Truth Social CEO and former Rep. Devin Nunes subsequently said the goal was for the app to be "fully operational" by the end of March.

There have been some indications of progress, including Trump's adult sons beginning to use the service this week, and Trump's account gaining over 800,000 users. But Trump himself hasn't posted a message since before the original launch date. 

The intrigue: As far as Axios can tell, no Trump loyalists seem to be involved in Truth Social, and instead are focusing on building their own tech platforms. 

Truth Social misses another deadline as users report waitlist issues

Tech issues are likely at fault, sources tell Axios.

Axios

Saturday's top stories

Young women earn more than men in 16 U.S. cities

Night owl gets the worm

Red Cross evacuation convoy struggling to reach Mariupol

Axios AM Deep Dive: Cancer breakthroughs

How the Strategic Petroleum Reserve works

Truth Social misses another deadline as users report waitlist issues

Massive ship called Ever Forward is stuck in Chesapeake Bay

Reality bites ultra-fast grocery delivery

Lynchings: An untold piece of Asian American history

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