Make Me Smart

The labor force participation rate in the U.S. has fallen to the lowest level it’s been since 1977 (aside from the during the height of the pandemic). One reason for the decline? President Trump’s immigration crackdown. University of Colorado Boulder economist Chloe East joins Kimberly to break down the unexpected ways restrictive immigration policies affect the labor market, and trends she’s paying attention to during this second Trump administration.

While the United States’ workforce is aging out of its prime, some countries, like Vietnam, are just hitting their stride. On today’s show, Kai joins Kimberly to share his takeaways from reporting in Ho Chi Minh City for the “Marketplace” series “The Age of Work.” We’ll get into how Vietnam’s younger workforce is transforming the country’s economy for the future and the pressures it faces from all around the globe.

Recently, Seattle’s tech workforce has been hit by wave after wave of layoffs. Some company execs say it’s AI’s fault. KUOW’s Monica Nickelsburg joins Kimberly on today’s show to share what she’s hearing from tech workers. And, we’ll get into another side of the AI boom: the push to build more data centers and the pushback from locals. Plus, a round of Seattle trivia!

Here’s everything we talked about today:

"Booming" from KUOW
Why Seattle tech companies are still laying off workers from The Seattle Times
"From coder to shuttle driver: Where Seattle's laid off tech workforce is now" from KUOW
"A small town in Central Washington is Microsoft's answer to the data center backlash" from KUOW
"What produce prompted the creation of the Market?" from the Pike Place Market Foundation
"Seattle doesn't have many unicorns. Does it matter?" From GeekWire
"Scents from a Mall: The Sticky, Untold Story of Cinnabon" from Seattle Met
"Seattle area expected to generate $845 million from FIFA World Cup" from Fox 13 Seattle

We love hearing from you. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email [email protected].

Will AI take my job? On today’s show, Anthropic’s head of economics Peter McCrory sits down with Kimberly to answer our burning questions about artificial intelligence’s effects on the labor market. We’ll get into what Anthropic’s research shows about how people are using the company’s chatbot Claude and what that could mean for the future of the global economy.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

"Snap's stock jumps on plans to axe 16% of its workforce citing AI efficiencies" from CNBC
"Anthropic Economic Index report: Learning curves" from Anthropic
"Labor market impacts of AI: A new measure and early evidence" from Anthropic
"Anthropic Economic Index report: Uneven geographic and enterprise AI adoption" from Anthropic
"Behind the Curtain: A white-collar bloodbath" from Axios
"Estimating AI productivity gains from Claude conversations" from Anthropic
"What 81,000 people want from AI" from Anthropic

We love hearing from you. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email [email protected].

In her book “The Second Estate,” Boston College Law School professor Ray Madoff argues that the tax code in the United States lets billionaires keep their wealth outside of the tax system, leaving the heaviest burden to lower- and middle-income, working Americans. On today’s show, Madoff joins Kimberly to explain the “tax avoidance playbook” and why Congress has let certain loopholes go unclosed for decades. Plus, why a wealth tax may not be the simple solution you think it is.