“Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe recently revealed what he considers the single most dangerous job in the world, one he said he would “never do again.”
The blue-collar work advocate and popular TV host discussed the topic during a recent podcast episode, saying out of all the disgusting, death-defying job sites he’s explored, one stands out as being particularly treacherous. That came when he was opal mining in Australia.
The question posed by podcaster Shawn Ryan mentioned how Allied soldiers during the Vietnam War called “tunnel rats” would volunteer to crawl into deep, pitch-black Viet Cong tunnel networks to find enemies, gather info, and clear booby traps. 
Rowe said the tunnel rat gig was “tough to beat” in terms of being terrible, but also was able to come up with a modern equivalent that he would never do again.
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“Opal mining. In the Australian outback, in a little town called Coober Pedy. It was 129 degrees when I was there that day. This is the opal capital of the world &#8230; the city itself is underground. It’s too hot to live above,” Rowe said on “The Shawn Ryan Show” last week.
He said the way to look for opals is to dig prospect shafts up to 60 feet deep to start looking for the gemstones. He described being that far underground with nothing but a flashlight and a hard hat as being “in a grave.” 
“The opal miners, on the other hand, are kind of like crab fishermen in the desert, and on steroids. Because there’s no OSHA in this part of the world,” he went on, saying he’s been in all types of mines but none like this before. “The night before we got to Coober Pedy, I wanted to look at the opal fields because we were gonna be working there all the next day … and I’m a little worried. They [flew] me over the fields.”
“When you look down, there are thousands of these prospect shafts that have been dug over the years. None of them are filled in. … As I’m flying, the pilot’s like, ‘Yeah, it&#8217;s a hell of a thing &#8230; There’s a lot of wildlife out here. There&#8217;s emu, there&#8217;s ostrich, kangaroo. There are hundreds of them at the bottom of these shafts. They fall in all the time … and they die down there.’ I said, ‘Well, that’s terrible.’” 
Rowe also said he was told sometimes tourists die in the open shafts while trying to capture pictures of the sunset.

Mike Rowe

‘Dirty Jobs’ Host Mike Rowe Reveals Most Dangerous Job He Would Never Do Again

Australia

Jobs

Meta launched a free program on Monday that it&#8217;s calling America’s Workforce Academy, a first-of-its-kind $115 million initiative designed to fast-track Americans into high-demand jobs without requiring a college degree.
Meta&#8217;s pitch is simple: train for free, get paid while you learn, and walk into a guaranteed job on the other side. Meta said that its new school is not a federal program or another handout but a private company spending its own money because it needs the workers for the next wave of a technological revolution. 
&#8220;The AI revolution is bringing change but also historic opportunities. Skilled workers electrified rural America one pole at a time,” said Meta’s President and Vice Chairman Dina Powell McCormick. “They manned the factories that built the arsenal that won World War II. Now a new generation will pour the foundations and lay the fiber that secures American strength in this new age.”
The program will launch as a pilot in four states: Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana, and Texas. America’s Workforce Academy seeks to output welders, electricians, plumbers, and fiber technicians, the workers who will physically build the data centers and infrastructure powering the artificial intelligence boom.
Mike Rowe, the host of the Discovery Channel&#8217;s &#8220;Dirty Jobs&#8221; and CEO of a foundation that awards $10 million a year in scholarships to aspiring tradesmen, praised Meta’s new program. 
“Workers are actually paid to learn,&#8221; Rowe said. &#8220;There is zero cost to them, no college debt and a fast certification, with a guaranteed job on the other end. This is an important step in the right direction, and one that I hope other companies will be inspired to take.&#8221; 
Meta said it is partnering with the National Urban League, Associated Builders and Contractors, and CBRE, along with a roster of regional groups including the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, and local economic development organizations across each of the pilot regions.
The idea for the academy came after Meta saw huge demand for a similar initiative. LevelUp, Meta’s fiber-installation training program, received 35,000 applications in the seven days after it launched.
As college tuition continues to soar, interest in trade schools has steadily increased. Earning a four-year degree in America costs an average <a href="https://www.sofi.com/learn/content/bachelor-degree-cost/">$153,080</a>, with in-state public schools averaging $108,584 and private nonprofit $234,512. 
Total student loan debt in the United States is now over <a href="https://educationdata.org/student-loan-debt-statistics">$1.8 trillion</a>, and many of the students carrying that debt also worry that the rise of artificial intelligence could eventually make their jobs obsolete. Gen Z&#8217;s outlook on AI is largely negative, with <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/708224/gen-adoption-steady-skepticism-climbs.aspx">42%</a> reporting they feel anxious about the technology&#8217;s rapid advancement. 
Meta, while not dismissing the possibility of workforce disruption, is betting that AI will also create a new generation of high-paying skilled trades jobs that cannot be outsourced to algorithms. The company argues that building the infrastructure behind the AI revolution will require millions of workers whose labor remains firmly rooted in the physical world and educated by its new America’s Workforce Academy.

US-INTERNET-TECHNOLOGY-FACEBOOK

Meta Launches A Free Alternative To College In Four Red States

College

Boy Mowing Lawn

The Summer Job Is Disappearing. Here’s What Gen Z Needs To Learn Fast

summer

Teenagers

Upstream

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This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
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With more college degrees handed out than ever, the relative advantage of holding one has decreased. Add to that the left-wing lurch of most higher education institutions, and it&#8217;s no wonder it&#8217;s become common for conservatives to <a href="https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dont-go-to-college/">argue</a> that college is no longer necessary. 
Yet the job market hasn&#8217;t adapted. A degree has become a blunt hiring filter that often screens out experienced, capable candidates. Virtually everyone in the application pool has one — except for me. That’s where my difficulty lies.
I had made the decision to drop out of school midway through college to start a business. I began traveling to companies to train Gen Z in leadership and interpersonal skills so that they could excel and lead in life. Working two jobs and running a business was hard, of course. But I would still make the same choice today.
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While 87% of younger Gen Z teens (ages 12–15) are especially likely to <a href="https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/509906/majority-gen-consider-college-education-important.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/509906/majority-gen-consider-college-education-important.aspx&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1780575870682000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1yCRDC8TySsniaMpiHp1Rw">view</a> college as important — compared to slightly lower shares among older cohorts, ranging from 80% to 85% — this optimism sits in tension with the fact that 51% of Gen Z ultimately <a href="https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/news/college-degree-value-generational-divide" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/news/college-degree-value-generational-divide&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1780575870682000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1heY5P6PHubctYOHT4Xlkn">say</a> their degree, once achieved, was a waste of money.
Yet now, I&#8217;m back in school. Why? Because, as I hope to transition into a career in public affairs and government relations, I am asked the same question, time and time again, before the interview awkwardly fizzles into “so, uh, we’re looking to hire candidates with at least a bachelor’s.”
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From getting turned down during the final round to being unable to get a foot in the door, I have seen firsthand how brutal the job market can be for someone with experience, yet no degree.
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A dance studio owner had invited me in as a guest teacher. Now, in the dance community, having a degree — even one in “dance” — means almost nothing. You still must audition. You still need to “make it” as a dancer, whether you have a piece of paper that says you can dance or not.
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I am a retired contemporary and commercial dancer, having performed with Epik Dance Company, Belhaven Dance Ministry, as a backup dancer in music videos, and even in a Bollywood movie called &#8220;Love and Masala.&#8221;
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For this studio owner, my time on stage, film, and professional work was not enough. She told me she would never hire anyone without a degree again.
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I have been increasingly running into this dilemma. Hiring managers are quick to give the same response: “I won&#8217;t hire a candidate without a degree.” It’s a quick filter in the application portal. It makes the hiring process faster.
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But these hiring managers are missing out on the real gems. I know this because I have hired them.
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As the owner of a training company helping Gen Z grow in leadership for the workplace, I have hired multiple roles, from marketing and social media to executive assistants. I was surprised to discover that my best employees all lacked degrees. Typically, they were ambitious and coachable — and had five to seven years of experience. And these gems were having their résumés passed over by other managers because they “lacked qualifications.” In other words, they lacked a degree. Lucky for me, I learned my hiring lesson early and had the chance to mentor fantastic staff.
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But I am tired of getting locked out of a dream role — or any role — because I lack a piece of paper. So, now, I’m back in school, playing the qualifications game.
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My second go-around at college has proven that experience would have been enough. There is not an assignment that I have not done before — only I have been paid, at real jobs and consulting gigs, to do it. Now, I am the one paying to do this work for a grade.
Ultimately, if we want the best workers, we must be willing to dig a bit. Sometimes it means ignoring the “perfect match” the AI bot dragged out of some LinkedIn algorithm. Don&#8217;t let the diamond hire that you have been searching for slip through in the process because a middle manager cuts out any résumé without a B.S. or B.A.
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I challenge hiring managers to give the person without a degree an interview. She may just be the unicorn you have been looking for, and worst case, you gave her some interview experience. Try giving a few extra interviews to unlikely candidates with unique work experience. You may be surprised at what you find.
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***
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Taryn Enos is a student media fellow at the Network of Enlightened Women. She is the founder and owner of Bold Speakers Consulting and a communications major at Grand Canyon University.
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GettyImages-521922244

The College Degree Scam Nobody Wants To Admit

Education

Democrat lawmakers are pushing a federal bill to make businesses pay for female workers to take time off for period pain — an issue they&#8217;ve framed through the lens of &#8220;economic violence.&#8221;
The bill, called the Reproductive Healthcare Leave Act, would require employers to provide up to 12 days of paid leave per year for female health issues, including period pain and menopause symptoms, and also covers abortion and vasectomies.  
Notably, the legislation would hit incredibly small businesses, too, even if the owner has as few as five employees. And it&#8217;s backed by abortion giant Planned Parenthood. 
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Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ), who attended the presser last month, said women are tired of being told to &#8220;tough it out&#8221; when it comes to their period and suggested the issue is also about ethnicity.
&#8220;While the system is broken for all women, it is in a full blown crisis for Latinas,&#8221; the Democrat said. &#8220;The nationwide 17% of Latinos lack health insurance — more than double the rate of white Americans. Over 20% of adult Latinos in Arizona have been forced to completely avoid medical care because they simply cannot afford it.&#8221;
&#8220;Latinas are the backbone of our workforce, and yet they&#8217;re disproportionately concentrated in low wage and hourly jobs that lack flexible sick leave,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;Forcing a worker to choose between paying her rent or losing a day&#8217;s pay to recover from a grueling gynecological procedure is not a choice; it&#8217;s an economic violence.&#8221;
Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), who is sponsoring the Reproductive Healthcare Leave Act, recalled during the presser the pain she&#8217;s experienced from her period.
“Today, we are here to talk about women&#8217;s pain and how long it&#8217;s been overlooked,” Ansari said. “Like most women, I have a very personal experience with reproductive health pain.&#8221;
&#8220;In the summer of 2015, while starting my career in New York City, I woke up on floor of my local bodega drenched in sweat being dragged into an ambulance,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;Two male paramedics hovered over me and continued to ask me if I was pregnant. I had passed out from period pain. Even now, every month, I have days where it feels like barbed wire is tightening inside me. I&#8217;ve taken 2,000 milligrams of ibuprofen in twenty-four hours and still been in tears from the pain. Often end up on the bathroom floor in the fetal position, crying, moaning, or vomiting. Still, I put on a blazer and gone to work.” 
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is also backing the bill. “I know that many of you understand that we&#8217;re sick and tired of women having to be expected to say, &#8216;suck it up,&#8217; or still perform at the highest level,&#8221; Tlaib said at the presser. &#8220;They&#8217;re expected to show up to work despite incredibly painful periods and sit through meetings after being denied competent health care. And for far too long, women&#8217;s pain has been minimized, ignored, dismissed, and even politicized.”
As highlighted by some online, Democrats like Tlaib are advocates for so-called trans rights, or allowing males who identify as female in women&#8217;s spaces. In fact, Tlaib once said a bill aimed at protecting girls sports was effectively &#8220;legalizing discrimination.&#8221;
However, for this bill, the definition of women has reverted back to reality and biology.
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‘Economic Violence’: Dems Hold Presser Demanding Paid Time Off For Periods

Democrats

Economy

Women

President Donald Trump was elected on a promise to revitalize America’s heartland by reviving the manufacturing industry, which has no doubt seen a steady erosion of jobs under successive administrations. Part of Trump’s grand strategy is tariffs, including Section 232 <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IN12519">tariffs</a> aimed at making it more expensive to import certain products from abroad, including pharmaceuticals, copper, steel, and aluminum. The legal case for 232 tariffs has been stretched to the limit, and consumers pay for it at car dealerships and in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/business/steel-tariffs-tin-cans-food-prices.html">grocery</a> aisles.
The White House’s central <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/04/trump-effect-american-manufacturing-is-roaring-back-as-factory-activity-hits-four-year-high/">claim</a> is that the steep 50% tariffs will “bring manufacturing back to America — and his [Trump’s] policies are delivering the largest reshoring wave in American history.” But the facts simply don’t bear that out.
Take steel, for example. Has U.S. domestic steel production actually increased because of the Trump administration’s tariffs on imports? Barely. In 2025, American steel production rose by just <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-steel-rebounds-under-trump-124500983.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEfXMuMFy2WUizAXMyDY0C4aMmjIODFTYVz-NQQbsXlUzAL4d6Wudz5UQkADVxA4ARUdNi-A7OX3l3iPrWwOSD3jcxHdpVnZ0jEFEmIHsqeBi2bfcz7c7qgptUuHPiKzpY9X7fUjq4dPCTxndbUpr465F4Vbxyk61ofI5x0IRBTF">3%</a>. Worse still, the Tax Foundation estimates that <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/trump-tariffs-trade-war/">104,000</a> U.S. jobs have been lost in relation to Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum, and copper.
The Peterson Institute for International Economics has found that every steel job “saved” by the Trump administration’s policies has cost U.S. taxpayers<a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-ottawa-must-steel-itself-against-tariffs/"> $650,000</a>. It’s unlikely that voters who backed tariffs envisioned subsidized jobs as costly as the salaries of Wall Street executives or big-city lawyers.
The math is brutal — tariffs protect <a href="https://www.mercatus.org/economic-insights/expert-commentary/steel-and-aluminum-tariffs-do-more-harm-good">one</a> steelworker for every 80 jobs that depend on affordable steel inputs — such as the automotive, rail, and housing sectors. On the consumer side, Canadian jet ski manufacturer BRP Inc. has <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-14/sea-doo-maker-brp-gets-crushed-by-us-tariff-changes-pulls-outlook">cut</a> $353 million from its 2027 balance sheet projections due to the tariffs. Summer adventurers looking to buy or rent a Sea-Doo for the lake will inevitably pay more. The same goes for food that requires a tin can, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/business/steel-tariffs-tin-cans-food-prices.html#:~:text=As%20tariffs%20push%20up%20the%20cost%20of%20American%20canned%20goods%2C%20imports%20of%20foreign%20canned%20goods%20are%20rising.%20That%E2%80%99s%20in%20part%20because%20they%20benefit%20from%20a%20loophole%20that%20puts%20American%20canned%20products%20at%20a%20disadvantage%3A%20Imported%20foreign%20cans%20are%20exempt%20from%20the%20steel%20tariffs%20when%20they%20contain%20food.">squeezing domestic suppliers</a> and, perversely, benefiting foreign producers of canned food.
All of this makes Washington’s focus on production rather illogical. Slivers of good news for domestic producers of steel, aluminum, and copper can be devastating for other sectors and consumers.
Affordability is a tricky issue and continues to <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/708905/affordability-dominates-americans-financial-worries.aspx">dominate</a> voters’ concerns heading into the midterm season. The administration seems stuck between its populist promises to revive certain jobs and the reality that this means higher prices on everything from homes to a new tractor. MAGA influencer Benny Johnson <a href="https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1908235617873650101">put it this way</a>: &#8220;Losing money means nothing. Digital ones and zeroes. In the end, you won&#8217;t miss any of it. Losing your country costs you everything.&#8221;
This is the definition of a losing message. It&#8217;s also an economically illiterate one. A 50% tariff is a 50% de facto tax on the raw materials U.S. manufacturers need to supply what consumers demand.
The experience of Bremen, Indiana’s BCI Solutions Inc., is instructive. The company is a small metal foundry that sells to a range of agriculture and heavy equipment makers. CEO J.B. Brown <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-factory-headcount-falling-despite-trumps-promised-manufacturing-boom-2026-01-09/">told</a> Reuters that his workforce is down to 130 people from a high of 240 people a couple of years ago.
“Every time I hear that manufacturing is booming, I scream at the TV,” <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-factory-headcount-falling-despite-trumps-promised-manufacturing-boom-2026-01-09/">said</a> Brown.
Far from reshoring jobs, tariff policies are costing them.
Because of these policies, companies like Brown’s have seen input prices soar, making their products more expensive and thereby weakening demand. The end result is the need to lay off workers, which is exactly the opposite of the boom Trump promised would follow his protectionist tariff policies.
It’s time for Mr. Trump to put down the cudgel of tariffs, and if he wants to revive the manufacturing industry, fully rescind his Section 232 tariffs and reduce the federal government’s role in the economy. Consumers will be the first to benefit, and that will redound to the president’s benefit in November, but the clock is ticking.
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Stephen Kent is a conservative commentator and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Force-Can-Fix-World/dp/1546000461">How The Force Can Fix The World: Lessons on Life, Liberty &amp; Happiness From a Galaxy Far, Far Away.</a> Kent is the Media Director for the Consumer Choice Center. Follow him @<a href="https://x.com/StephenKentX">StephenKentX</a>.

tariffs word on calculator screen with Invoice and export – Import declaration report.

The Trump ‘Affordability’ Policy That’s Hurting More Than It Helps

DW Opinion

Manufacturing

Special Reporting

Tariffs

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
Women now outnumber men in the paid workforce. This is raising alarm bells for many as they worry about the decline in good jobs for middle- and working- class men as well as the downstream effects, such as declining marriage rates, and men who have dropped out of the labor market entirely. The good news is there are many possible ways to help male workers. But they aren&#8217;t going to fit into a 280-character tweet about the gender wars.
The federal government recently released this <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/03/27/women-jobs-health-care?utm_medium=owned_social&amp;utm_source=x&amp;utm_campaign=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.axios.com/2026/03/27/women-jobs-health-care?utm_medium%3Downed_social%26utm_source%3Dx%26utm_campaign%3Deditorial&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2CSl4WPZl1PgVLRexMLv1I">remarkable statistic</a>: When it comes to non-farm jobs, there are more gals than guys. This has happened before. More women than men were working during the Great Recession in 2009, as well as right before the 2020 pandemic. Overall, however, the changes in male vs. female workforce participation are dramatic. In 1990, there were about 7 million more employed men than women. Today? The gender gap has narrowed to nothing.
The Left looks at these stats and <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/breadwinning-women-are-a-lifeline-for-their-families-and-the-economy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.americanprogress.org/article/breadwinning-women-are-a-lifeline-for-their-families-and-the-economy/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2mn6spsICF1qSuA41bnQzd">interprets them as</a> a story of women’s empowerment and female career success. Many conservatives, by contrast, <a href="https://x.com/emlwaters/status/2037725919893127588?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://x.com/emlwaters/status/2037725919893127588?s%3D20&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1m-7DPJTukaX1zNVfAvxo3">see</a> potential long-term negative impacts on the social fabric, including fewer marriages and children. Stepping back to look at the full picture of male and female employment, however, provides another option: We don’t need to have <a href="https://thedispatch.com/article/great-feminization-sex-workplace/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thedispatch.com/article/great-feminization-sex-workplace/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1DeTK5EzVZVGiNayI7UGvx">another round of the gender wars in 2026</a>. To be clear, male unemployment is a serious issue that should receive sustained attention from politicians interested in the common good. However, prudent policymakers should consider how to help American men find good jobs while resisting calls to place them in a zero-sum competition with women.
First, the stats. Women now narrowly outnumber men in non-farm jobs, but this doesn’t tell the whole story, since men on average still <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/04/gender-pay-gap-in-us-has-narrowed-slightly-over-2-decades/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/04/gender-pay-gap-in-us-has-narrowed-slightly-over-2-decades/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0lYE0n11whEMKkzhgPq4Q4">significantly out-earn</a> women. Likewise, many more women than men are <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/wb/data/widget" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dol.gov/agencies/wb/data/widget&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0Y9-R79ZYSS0guKhaAQcV5">simply not</a> in the labor force at all, frequently devoting themselves to full-time care of the home, children, or the elderly in unpaid, but still enormously socially valuable, work. Put another way, the number of women in the paid workforce has increased significantly, but men still get paid more and are less likely than women to drop out of the labor force entirely to care for family and community.
Focusing on the men and women who work in our formal economy, the trend line is striking. Women are clearly working at much higher rates than they did 40 years ago. Whatever social media personalities might claim, however, it is far from obvious that the presence of women in the workforce is disadvantageous to men.
Instead, looking at the broad picture: declining male employment in recent years is largely driven by broad economic forces. American companies just aren’t hiring as much in fields that used to provide stable jobs for working-class men. As Axios <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/03/27/women-jobs-health-care?utm_medium=owned_social&amp;utm_source=x&amp;utm_campaign=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.axios.com/2026/03/27/women-jobs-health-care?utm_medium%3Downed_social%26utm_source%3Dx%26utm_campaign%3Deditorial&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2CSl4WPZl1PgVLRexMLv1I">reports</a>, hiring “in construction and manufacturing has been relatively flat or negative.” Pushing women out of the workforce isn’t going to increase the number of jobs in sectors dominated by blue-collar men.
The most likely solutions instead will come from well-designed <a href="https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/industrial-policy-right-and-wrong" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/industrial-policy-right-and-wrong&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2e2R3-yiZQsX0JWsvRXUEL">industrial policy</a> to boost domestic manufacturing and thoughtful responses to <a href="https://americancompass.org/two-cheers-for-automation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://americancompass.org/two-cheers-for-automation/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2dt2pqlbSg87Kz_1McudTz">industrial automation</a>. Efforts to <a href="https://www.nga.org/news/commentary/governors-lead-the-charge-on-building-americas-infrastructure/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nga.org/news/commentary/governors-lead-the-charge-on-building-americas-infrastructure/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw25MVIPkm9q2x3ESwThGStJ">boost infrastructure investment</a> and <a href="https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/whats-in-the-21st-century-road-to-housing-act/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/whats-in-the-21st-century-road-to-housing-act/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0GhPiYduCOMciKKDeiuPIV">housing reform</a> will also likely help, since both should lead to an uptick in hiring in fields more likely to employ men. Likewise, some analysts <a href="https://www.heritage.org/jobs-and-labor/commentary/cracking-down-illegal-immigration-would-raise-wages-lower-income" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.heritage.org/jobs-and-labor/commentary/cracking-down-illegal-immigration-would-raise-wages-lower-income&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1vLRxSoDq0l4YuciDN44gw">believe</a> limiting immigration in sectors that are predominantly held by men could also boost both employment of U.S. citizens and their paychecks.
Additionally, men have fallen behind as the economy shifts toward greater reliance on the healthcare sector, which is traditionally disproportionately female. These jobs don’t need to remain overwhelmingly held by women, however. Richard Reeves, the president of the American Institute for Boys and Men, has <a href="https://aibm.org/research/the-heal-economy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://aibm.org/research/the-heal-economy/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3xw_7U9M6eQq3QSBt8l9XG">called</a> for efforts to get men into “HEAL” jobs — health, education, arts, and literacy — in order to meet this challenge. Reeves notes the success of businesses and policymakers in moving more women into the STEM, or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. He suggests that the failure to integrate men into nursing, teaching in K-12 schools, and the like, means “missed job opportunities for men as well as a damaging lack of men in some vitally important roles.”
As the mother of four kids, three of whom are boys, I can attest to the importance of making sure young men have a wide range of positive male role models in their lives. For many boys, the presence of more men as public school teachers, running after-school education programs … or even as EMT techs or ER nurses … might make a significant difference in the trajectory of their lives, providing needed examples of healthy masculinity that focus on service and stability — rather than video game addiction and pot. Additionally, when my dad went through a period of extensive hospitalization, I remember his male nurses with fondness. Although the women who cared for him were wonderful, he seemed to have a special connection with the men who took competent, careful care of him when he was too ill to care for himself. Encouraging men to join the HEAL professions can fill a needed gap not only in the economy but also in providing a positive, distinctly masculine contribution to an important sector. We sometimes think of jobs in the “care economy” as “pink collar,” but just as a family benefits from the distinct contributions of both dad and mom, the nursing and education professions would benefit from more men.
There are two elephants remaining in the room to consider. It is shamefully true that in both the C-suite and certain prestigious fields of work (like <a href="https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-vanishing-white-male-writer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-vanishing-white-male-writer/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0vKXyUBh45jxiSVuMnhKz8">fiction writing and screenplay creation</a>), there are still numerous DEI measures and explicit or implicit quotas that have disadvantaged (primarily white) men to the benefit of women. While the average male construction worker is not personally negatively implicated by DEI hiring in elite publishing houses, that doesn’t make those programs right. We must pay more attention to measures that could help working-class men in the trades and manufacturing, but we also ought to work toward ending unjust discrimination against men, including getting rid of the justly unpopular <a href="https://nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/men-and-women-work" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/men-and-women-work&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1phNMyPW4ebjgitfaapUds">disparate impact test</a>, which pushes large businesses to consider the proportion of men vs. women on their payroll.
Likewise, it’s impossible to talk about male employment numbers without also talking about male unemployability. As Patrick Brown, a fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, <a href="https://thedispatch.com/article/marriage-rates-socioeconomics-men-trailing/?gift_key=db5875debd7f3ee9&amp;gift_ref=dc24904f-7bc3-42a5-96d0-fe916fd59cf0&amp;utm_source=giftlink&amp;utm_medium=copy_link&amp;utm_campaign=membergift" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thedispatch.com/article/marriage-rates-socioeconomics-men-trailing/?gift_key%3Ddb5875debd7f3ee9%26gift_ref%3Ddc24904f-7bc3-42a5-96d0-fe916fd59cf0%26utm_source%3Dgiftlink%26utm_medium%3Dcopy_link%26utm_campaign%3Dmembergift&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3wz0oiaCRXSGSaeIjypgmv">writes</a>: “One in 4 young men use weed, and a good many are acting out violent scripts they learned from pornography or gambling their weekly earnings on a prop bet.” Many working-class men seem caught in a vicious circle, in which various vices — especially drug use — make it harder for them to find and keep stable, good-paying jobs, resulting in them leaning further on drugs, video games, etc. to get through the days.
The declining number of men in the American workforce is indeed a serious problem. But the problem is not women. Instead of trying to return to an idealized vision of the 1950s, addressing male workforce participation will require a complex and sophisticated bucket of fixes that looks at construction and manufacturing, immigration, drug policy, and DEI measures. A push for creating well-designed policy measures to boost male workforce participation is not going to go viral, unlike calls to kick women back into the kitchen. However, they are the changes that will actually help America’s working-class men, who need and deserve a hand up from their elected officials.
***
Ivana Greco has several jobs, but her favorite is being a homeschooling mom of four.

GettyImages-2214754484

The Workforce Flip That Could Change Marriage, Family, And The Future Of Men

Gender

Blue America is best for families. For years, America’s elites have insisted that <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/32782">blue states</a> — with their higher incomes, better-<a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/32782">educated residents</a>, and expansive public services — are the best places to raise a family. Progressive policies such as paid family leave, childcare subsidies, and gender-neutral bathroom mandates, we were told, would draw parents in droves. Such policies prove “that one major party cares about children and families, and <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/07/30/jd-vance-childless-cat-ladies/?itid=lk_inline_manual_27">the other does not</a>,” according to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/07/30/jd-vance-childless-cat-ladies/?itid=lk_inline_manual_27">liberal journalist</a> Catherine Rampell. 
But the data tell a different tale. Across the country, families are packing up and leaving blue states for red states. They are also more likely to have children in red states to begin with. 
The <a href="https://familystructureindex.org/">2026 Family Structure Index</a>, just released by the Center for Christian Virtue and the Institute for Family Studies, tracks family health across all 50 states. It focuses on three measures: marriage rates, fertility rates, and the share of children raised by married parents. These factors shape everything from child poverty to the health of the American Dream. 
What it reveals is a growing divide in where families are choosing to live — and where they are choosing to start a family.
Call it the Great American Family Sort.
Married couples with children are increasingly moving to red and purple states. From 2019 to 2024, 840,000 married families with children moved from blue states to red ones, while 470,000 moved in the opposite direction — a net gain of 370,000 such families for red states. 
Red states also enjoy higher fertility rates, all of which helps explain why red states have <a href="https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-lefts-family-problem-marriage-and-kids-cratering-among-liberal-young-adults">seen</a> a 7.3% increase in their child population since 2000, while blue states have seen a 7.1% decline. That shift is another indicator that Red America is proving more hospitable to family life.
In other words, <a href="https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-blue-state-family-exodus-families-are-migrating-to-red-and-purple-states">blue states</a> long seen as the best places to raise children by liberal elites — states like California, Massachusetts, and New York — are steadily losing them.
Why? Start with what families actually need: jobs, homes, and safe neighborhoods. On each of these fronts, many red states are delivering. Over the past decade, states like Texas, Florida, and South Carolina have seen strong job growth, especially in sectors that support middle-class life. When young adults can find steady, well-paying work, they are more likely to marry and start families.
Housing is just as critical. Affordable single-family homes provide the space and stability families <a href="https://ifstudies.org/report-brief/homes-for-young-families-a-pro-family-housing-agenda">want</a>. Yet in many blue states, especially on the coasts, restrictive zoning and high costs have pushed homeownership out of reach for young families. In much of red America, that dream remains attainable.
Taxes also shape family <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/americans-moving-to-states/">migration</a>. Lower tax burdens in many red states leave families with more room in their budgets, whether for childcare, a good private school, or saving for the future.
<div id="attachment_1073407" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1073407" class="size-large wp-image-1073407" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-864x576.jpg" alt="San Francisco, CA, USA - August 17, 2020. Image of a moving truck parked in San Francisco's Nob Hill neighborhood." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />James Rice. Getty Images.</div>
Safety matters as well. Parents want to raise children in communities where they feel <a href="https://ifstudies.org/report-brief/homes-for-young-families-a-pro-family-housing-agenda">secure</a>. States and cities that keep crime and public disorder low have a clear advantage in attracting and retaining families, even as many blue states are “plagued by homelessness, crime and dysfunction,” all of which are turnoffs to families, as even the liberal columnist Nick Kristof has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/15/opinion/progressives-california-portland.html">admitted</a>.
Still, economics alone does not explain what is happening. Family culture also matters. In many red states, there remains a stronger expectation around marriage and family formation, often stemming from deeply held religious beliefs. Social norms shaped by churches, civic life, and local leadership still influence how people live. Faith remains a powerful driver of American family life.
The <a href="https://familystructureindex.org/">Family Structure Index</a> underscores this point. Frequent religious attendance accounts for 57% of the variance in fertility rates across states. States with high religious attendance, such as Utah and Mississippi, have far higher birth rates than states like Vermont or Massachusetts, where churchgoing is rare.
None of this suggests that red states have solved every problem. Marriage and fertility are down nationwide, and no region is immune. But the trend is clear: families seem more likely to thrive in some states rather than others. That should tell policymakers something important. If states want to attract and keep families, the formula is straightforward: make housing attainable, foster job growth, keep communities safe, and support a culture that encourages marriage and child-rearing. 
The deeper lesson is harder to accept. For too long, liberal elites have assumed that higher incomes and more government spending automatically lead to better outcomes for families. The evidence suggests otherwise. Public safety, good jobs, affordable homes, and culture matter just as much, if not more.
The Great American Family Sort is more than a demographic shift. It is a signal. Families are making their priorities clear through where they choose to live and have children. The question is whether the rest of the country is paying attention.
* * *
Aaron Baer is president of the Center for Christian Virtue. 
Brad Wilcox is Distinguished University Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia and senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies.

Asheville and Johnson City exit sign on highway in Tennessee on interstate 81 road

Turns Out Families Are Voting With Their Feet And Headed In One Direction

Blue States

Conservatives

Crime

family

Florida

Homelessness

Opinion

Red States

Social Issues

Tennessee

Texas

Employers in the United States added <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_04032026.htm">178,000</a> jobs in March, more than tripling expectations of  <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/02/the-march-jobs-report-will-be-released-on-friday-heres-what-to-expect.html">59,000</a>, while the unemployment rate dropped to 4.3%.        
The labor market rebounded after a lackluster February report, which showed payrolls declined by 133,000 jobs and the unemployment rate rose slightly. Job gains in March were led by healthcare, construction, transportation, and warehouse. Healthcare added 76,000 jobs. About half of those gains reflect the return of workers who had been on strike. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
SMASHING ECONOMISTS&#8217; EXPECTATIONS! <a href="https://t.co/LkbKz54rzh">pic.twitter.com/LkbKz54rzh</a>
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/2040066344322793574?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Construction added 26,000 jobs, while transportation and warehousing grew by 21,000, signaling continued strength in infrastructure and logistics-related sectors. Leisure and hospitality rebounded partly due to warmer weather last month, adding 44,000 jobs. Manufacturing added 15,000, but finance lost that same amount.
Federal government employment continued to decline, falling by 18,000 jobs in March and down 355,000 from its peak in October 2024 during the Biden administration.
Wages also continued to rise. Average hourly earnings increased by 0.2% in March to $37.38, following gains in February. 
Markets are closed today for Good Friday, but the stronger-than-expected jobs report may influence investor expectations when trading resumes. A resilient labor market could also reduce pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, as the central bank has pointed to persistently elevated inflation as a reason to hold off on easing policy.

“now hiring” sign posted on business door

Jobs Report Crushes Expectations. See The Numbers

Unemployment

According to a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/media/see-how-hollywoods-job-market-is-collapsing-230be437?mod=e2tw">new report</a> from The Wall Street Journal, the Hollywood job market is collapsing at an alarming rate.
The news outlet found that entertainment motion picture and video production employment saw a 30% reduction in jobs as compared to 2022. That includes work for actors, carpenters, costume makers, and the hundreds of other professions behind movies and TV shows.
WSJ noted that studios are making fewer movies and shows in general, and that when they do, those projects are often being made in countries that offer cheaper prices for filming.
Noah Wyle, who stars in and serves as executive producer of the popular medical drama “The Pitt,” said it was “a near cratering of our once thriving industry.”
The outlet noted that studios, labor unions, and soundstage owners have been pushing for a federal tax incentive of 15%, which could be combined with state incentives ranging from 20% to 40%. They claim this would entice studios to bring production back to the United States.
But even if those incentives brought the action back to Hollywood, it wouldn’t solve the issue of a general downturn in output. Hollywood has been serving up <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hollywood-just-had-its-worst-summer-box-office-in-over-40-years">a lot of flops lately</a>, and that track record has led to major studios being more cautious with what they’re willing to make. This likely has a lot to do with churning out woke crap that audiences are sick of seeing, even if they’d never admit it.
The bad box office results are being blamed on the rise of streaming, short attention spans in the TikTok age, and a general refusal of audiences to return to theaters in a post-COVID world, among other issues. Hollywood analysts insist there is too much competition to make a great hit. But then a success story like “Project Hail Mary” comes along and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hollywood-learned-the-wrong-lesson-from-project-hail-mary">blows that theory to shreds</a>.
In September, President Trump addressed the issue, threatening a “100% tariff” on films made overseas in an effort to bring movie production back to the United States.
“Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing ‘candy from a baby.’ California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit! Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States,” the president shared in a Truth Social post at the time, echoing similar statements he made in May.

Distressed image of movie clapperboard

Hollywood Is In Deep Trouble And May Have Itself To Blame

employment

Entertainment

Hollywood

Los Angeles

Wokeness

The job market just delivered a reality check.
Instead of the job gains economists were expecting, the U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February, according to new federal data. Forecasters had predicted employers would add about 50,000 jobs. The unemployment rate also ticked up to 4.4%, signaling the labor market may be cooling after several years of strong hiring.
The weaker-than-expected report comes as businesses face a mix of economic uncertainty and rapid technological change that is beginning to reshape hiring across several industries.
One bright spot in the report was wages. Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers rose by 15 cents in February, continuing a recent trend of steady wage growth that has helped many workers keep pace with inflation.
The federal government workforce continued shrinking, shedding another 10,000 jobs last month. Since October, federal employment has declined by roughly 333,000 positions, reflecting ongoing efforts to reduce government payrolls.
And the job losses weren’t limited to just one corner of the economy.
Healthcare, which saw strong hiring in January, lost 28,000 jobs, with strike activity cited as the primary driver behind the decline.
Transportation and warehousing also fell by 11,000 jobs, concentrated among couriers and messengers — a category that includes major delivery companies such as UPS and FedEx. UPS recently announced plans to reduce its workforce as part of a broader restructuring effort.
The information sector, which includes telecommunications companies, cloud services, digital media, and publishing, also declined by 11,000 jobs.
Some areas did see modest gains. Social assistance, which includes services supporting families, children, seniors, and vulnerable populations, added 9,000 jobs in February.
Meanwhile, employment in construction, manufacturing, retail, financial services, and hospitality showed little change during the month.
In short, the hiring boom may finally be slowing down.
Economists and employers say a mix of economic uncertainty, automation, and rapid advances in artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping hiring decisions across the economy.

Top view of warehouse worker using laptop to check location of goods.

The Job Market Delivers A Surprise Economists Didn’t See Coming

Politics

Wages

New federal data released Friday showed inflation slowing and wages rising in January, trends the Trump administration says signal improving affordability.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that consumer prices rose 2.4% last month, below the 2.5% forecast. Markets rose following the news.
Average hourly earnings rose <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf">3.7%</a> over the past year, outpacing inflation and reflecting real wage growth. Private-sector employers added more than 170,000 jobs in January.
“We saw real wage growth in 2025,&#8221; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. &#8220;It could be very strong in 2026, and I think the American people are going to start feeling it.”
The White House said the data reflect the success of President Donald Trump&#8217;s economic policies.
“President Trump has defeated Joe Biden’s inflation crisis in record time,&#8221; said White House Spokesperson Taylor Rogers. &#8220;Inflation is low, wages are up, and the American economy is booming — all thanks to President Trump’s pro-growth agenda. President Trump is working hard to Make America Affordable Again — just like he promised.” 
&#8220;Real wages are up $1,400 in 2025 — nearly half of Biden era real wage decline made up for in just one year thanks to President Trump,&#8221; said White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai. &#8220;This is just the beginning: President Trump&#8217;s MFN drug pricing deals, tax cuts, trade deals, and deregulation are just starting to take effect.&#8221;
When President Joe Biden took office in 2021, annual inflation was running at 1.9%. During his term, inflation averaged 4.9% and peaked at 9.1% in 2022. Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in 2021, which included $1,400 direct payments to Americans.
“Joe Biden crashed the economy,” Bessent said. “The policies were a disaster for the American people.” 
Bessent argued that the Biden administration boosted demand through increased government spending while constraining supply with tighter regulations, driving up inflation. 
The January data marks the latest sign that inflationary pressures may be easing as the administration pushes its affordability agenda.

Consumer Prices See Largest Increases In 30 Years

Inflation Cools, Wages Rise As Trump White House Celebrates Affordability Gains

Inflation

Scott Bessent

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