Washington Post (January 31)
“The unemployment gap between workers with bachelor’s degrees and those with occupational associate’s degrees — such as plumbers, electricians and pipe fitters — flipped in 2025, leaving trade workers with a slight edge for six months out of the past year,” marking “the first time trade workers have had a leg up since the BLS started tracking this data in the 1990s.”
Tags: 2025, Associate’s degrees, Bachelor’s degrees, BLS, Data, Electricians, First time, Gap, Occupational, Pipe fitters, Plumbers, Trade workers, Unemployment
Time (January 26)
“The past year brought a number of blows for the climate fight, but there were also clean-energy wins. In the first half of 2025, for the first time, solar and wind power outpaced coal as the leading source of electricity worldwide—a promising step toward reducing emissions.”
Tags: 2025, Clean energy, Climate fight, Coal, Electricity, Emissions, First time, Leading source, Promising, Solar, Wind power, Wins
Washington Post (January 6)
“The data center rebellion is here, and it’s reshaping the political landscape.” During the second quarter of 2025 alone, “more projects were blocked or delayed than during the previous two years combined, according to Data Center Watch, a tracking project by the nonpartisan research firm 10a Labs. Some $98 billion in planned development was derailed in a single quarter.”
Tags: $98 billion, 2025, Blocked, Data center, Data Center Watch, Delayed, Derailed, Planned development, Political landscape, Q2, Rebellion, Reshaping, Tracking project
Barron’s (January 2)
“If last year was full of fireworks that ultimately resulted in another big gain for the stock market, 2026 appears set to be a dud. Looking back at 2025, the fact that the S&P 500 index gained 16% feels like a small miracle. The Donald Trump experience has led to wild swings—who can forget the near bear-market in April after the president announced the first iteration of tariffs?” Looking ahead, “we’d expect a relatively flat year, with the S&P 500 finishing down about 2%.”
Tags: 16%, 2%, 2025, 2026, April, Bear market, Big gain, Dud, Fireworks, Flat, S&P 500, Stock market, Tariffs, Trump
Washington Post (December 23)
U.S. “tariffs have generated about $25 billion a month since April,” which may seem big. But these monthly takes are really “more like rounding errors than game changers. The gross domestic product of the United States in 2025 will be about $31 trillion.”
Tags: $25 billion, $31 trillion, 2025, April, Big, Game changers, Gross domestic product, Rounding errors, Tariffs, U.S.
MarketWatch (December 22)
“The kitchen sink was thrown at the economy in 2025 — punishing tariffs, higher inflation, rising unemployment — but the U.S. might still be growing at an above-average speed in a sign of surprising pluck.” Can the momentum continue? AI may deliver continuing investment and efficiency gains. In addition, 2026 “should also benefit from lower interest rates, relaxed tariffs, fewer taxes and regulations, and more government spending in a midterm-election year.”
Tags: 2025, 2026, AI, Economy, Efficiency gains, Inflation, Interest rates, Investment, Momentum, Regulations, Tariffs, Taxes, U.S., Unemployment
Fortune (December 11)
“For all the volatility 2025 has endured, things have actually turned out relatively well: The S&P 500 is up by more than 17%, inflation hasn’t spiked despite an onslaught of tariffs, and the unemployment rate has stayed fairly steady. Analysts and investors are generally feeling positive about 2026 as a result.” This may be overlooking signs of weakness. “Beneath the relatively robust macroeconomic picture, cracks are beginning to show.”
Tags: 17%, 2025, 2026, Analysts, Endured, Inflation, Investors, Macroeconomic, Overlooking, Positive, S&P 500, Steady, Tariffs, Unemployment, Volatility, Weakness
Wall Street Journal (December 7)
“Advertising spending will grow more than predicted in 2025 because tariffs didn’t take as big a bite as expected and AI provided a boost…. Global ad revenue excluding U.S. political advertising will grow 8.8% in 2025 to $1.14 trillion, WPP Media said, raising its forecast from the 6% it predicted in June,” while worldwide advertising is now expected to grow 7.1% in 2026, up from June’s forecast of 6.1%.
Tags: $1.14 trillion, 2025, 2026, 8.8%, Ad revenue, Advertising, AI, Forecast, Predicted, Spending, Tariffs, U.S., WPP Media
SF Gate (November 6)
“America’s tech industry continues to lead in a grim metric.” Challenger, Gray & Christmas released a report that “tracked layoff announcements from companies” and “in 2025, the tech industry had the highest recorded number of layoffs for the month of October: 33,281 compared with 5,639 in September.” But the report found layoffs are hardly restricted to the tech industry. “Total year-to-date job cuts in the U.S. are at their highest level since the pandemic struck in 2020” while “layoffs for the month of October” were the highest recorded since 2003.
Tags: 2003, 2020, 2025, Grim metric, Highest, Job cuts, Layoffs, October, Pandemic, Tech industry, U.S.
Newsweek (November 3)
“Only 28 out of every 1,000 U.S. homes changed hands between January and September 2025,” marking “the lowest rate since at least the early-mid 1990s.” Increasingly, “U.S. homeowners are staying put amid growing economic uncertainty and the ongoing affordability crisis.”
Tags: 1990s. Homeowners, 2025, 28, Affordability, Crisis, Economic uncertainty, Homes, January, Lowest rate, September, Staying put, U.S.
