PlumBirch Culture

The Job Market Cools, but Remains Strong

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U.S. employers added 209,000 jobs in June, which was the 30th consecutive month of job growth, according to data released today. The gains, however, were the slowest in a two-and-a-half-year streak of growth.

Analysts saw the report as more or less good news, especially following slowing inflation. Some experts have warned that the Federal Reserve’s moves to fight rising prices could result in significant job losses, while policymakers have expressed concerns that the job market remains too hot. Today’s report may reflect a middle ground.

“If we continue to see this ‘immaculate disinflation’ — inflation falling while employment holds up,” my colleague Talmon Joseph Smith said, “then we may collectively be able to finesse a ‘soft landing’ in which there is no recession at all in the near future. This jobs report — not too hot but not too cold — gave more life to that possibility, previously unimaginable to many powerful people in this country.”

Still, as is always the case with the economy, outlooks remain far from certain. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates later this month in an effort to drag inflation down lower, which could further cool the labor market.

The Biden administration announced today that it planned to send Ukraine cluster munitions, which are outlawed across much of the world because they are known to cause grievous injury to civilians, especially children.

President Biden made the decision to send the weapons rather than risk letting Ukrainian forces run out of the conventional artillery rounds they desperately need to fight Russia. Biden’s national security adviser defended the move, arguing that Ukraine would be using the cluster munitions on their own land against a Russian military that has been using them since the beginning of the war.

Over 100 nations have signed a treaty prohibiting the weapons; the U.S., Russia and Ukraine have not. Several Democratic lawmakers denounced the decision. One said it blurred “the lines of moral high ground.”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s trip to China this week was billed as a high-profile attempt to ease tension between the Americans and the Chinese. But on her first day of meetings today in Beijing, Yellen delivered a forceful objection to punitive measures that Beijing has taken against U.S. companies. She suggested that such actions justified the Biden administration’s efforts to make American manufacturers less reliant on China.

In related news, the Biden administration is raising the pressure on China to do more to combat the fentanyl crisis.

A self-described white nationalist, who wrote that Hispanics were “invading” America before fatally shooting 23 people in 2019 at a Walmart, was sentenced today to 90 consecutive life terms. Texas prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty when he is tried later on murder charges in state court. No date has been set for that trial.

  • Belarus: Officials insisted that hundreds of tents recently erected on a military base would not be used to resettle fighters from the Wagner mercenary force after its uprising in Russia.

  • Weather: Another round of sweatier-than-normal summer heat is forecast to return to the Southern U.S. starting tomorrow and continuing into next week.

  • Special Counsel: The investigations into Donald Trump’s hoarding of government files and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election have cost taxpayers at least $5.4 million.

  • India: Officials arrested three railway workers in connection with last month’s train crash and charged them with endangering the safety of passengers, among other charges.

  • New York: Six people were charged with organizing illegal donations to the 2021 campaign of Mayor Eric Adams. The mayor was not accused of misconduct.

  • Florida: In good news for the state’s beaches, a giant blob of rotting seaweed off the coast is shrinking.

  • Business: As a potential strike at UPS looms, companies are rethinking ways to get their goods to customers quickly.

  • Idaho: Officials want to tear down a house where four college students were murdered last year, setting off a debate about preserving the scenes of mass violence.

  • Courts: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black female member of the Supreme Court, has established herself as a distinctive voice in a very short time.

The actor Patrick Wilson, best known for his work in horror films, had roughly the same reaction that I did when he was told about a fifth installment of the “Insidious” franchise: “Another sequel?” he said. “Oh boy, what new ground is there to even cover?”

But eventually Wilson agreed to reprise his starring role in “Insidious: The Red Door,” which arrived in theaters today. The reason: He was offered the chance to direct, which is something he has wanted to do for many years.

Here’s Jason Zinoman’s review of the film.

There weren’t supposed to be any wolves in New York State. So, when a hunter shot one near Cooperstown in 2021, it opened a new front in the wars over what might be America’s most beloved and reviled predator.

A group of passionate conservationists who say that the incident proves that wolves are making a comeback in the Northeast are now pushing government agencies to do more to seek out and safeguard the animals.

Some devour it plain, spooned straight from the tub. Others smear it over toast, blend it with sweet ingredients or use it as a dip. No matter how you eat it, one thing is clear: Cottage cheese, the diet staple of the ’70s, is jiggling back into the mainstream.

Google searches for cottage cheese are now at their highest levels since 2004.

“It’s definitely really trendy right now,” one dietitian said. And it comes with a host of health benefits as a high-protein, low-calorie dairy product that is rich in nutrients.

Have a creamy and nutritious weekend.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back on Monday. — Matthew

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