‘Gen Z men are facing a surprise workforce crisis’

‘Gen Z men are facing a surprise workforce crisis’

Sara Estep at MSNBC

Since the “early 2000s, the participation of young men (ages 16-24) in the American workforce has dropped precipitously,” says Sara Estep. There is “not a one-size-fits-all answer for every nonparticipant, but two main factors stand out: education and disability.” The workforce gender gap has “all but disappeared among young men and women.” But “being ‘out of the labor force’ doesn’t mean Generation Z men are all sitting on their parents’ couch playing video games.”

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‘Immigration crackdowns could cripple America’s small businesses’

Javier Palomarez at Newsweek

Immigration has “always powered America's economy,” says Javier Palomarez. But “recent crackdowns are weakening the industries we all depend on for growth and stability.” Immigrants “fill critical roles in construction, agriculture, manufacturing, technology, and hospitality.” When immigration “enforcement rips through their communities, small businesses, with their limited margins and flexibility, are first to feel the pain.” This “fallout is ethnicity-agnostic. When economic activity dries up, it affects all businesses, not only those owned by immigrants.”

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‘Africa’s future runs on water. So treat it as essential infrastructure.’

Sareen Malik at Al Jazeera

African crises “rarely begin with politics alone. They often start with water — too little, too dirty, or unfairly shared,” says Sareen Malik. When “water fails, economies and social contracts fail, too.” Africa’s “water security is under mounting pressure from multiple directions.” Water is “not only a human right; it is the foundational infrastructure of development, influencing what is grown on the farm, what is made in the factory and what is taught in the classroom.”

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‘The 25 greatest picture books of the last 25 years’

Dan Kois and Rebecca Onion at Slate

Picture books have “undergone a revolution in the past 25 years,” say Dan Kois and Rebecca Onion. The “art form is now remarkably different from what it was when we were little.” A “turn-of-the-millennium boom in animation, led by Pixar, gave rise to more illustrators making a living as storytellers — and being frustrated by the machinations of Hollywood studios forcing them to tell their own stories in a simpler, more personal form.”

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