This morning’s jobs report is out, and the number was staggering — 517,000 jobs added relative to the 187,000 that economists expected. FHN Financial Chief Economist Christopher Low breaks down how to interpret the numbers. The tech sector is in rough shape, and this earnings season’s results are confirming how deep the malaise goes. And, the state of Tennessee is rejecting millions of dollars in federal HIV aid partly because it wants to deny funding to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.

Need some Econ 101? Sign up for our Marketplace Crash Course and get weekly lessons to complete at your own pace!

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing a further limiting of credit card late fees, which the agency says could save consumers around $9 billion per year. The big U.S. job report is out today, and it showed a huge increase in the number of jobs added to the economy. And, the G7 collection of nations plus the EU are tightening their oil ban on Russia.

Need some Econ 101? Sign up for our Marketplace Crash Course and get weekly lessons to complete at your own pace!

From the BBC World Service: From Sunday the G7 group of leading economies will ban the import from Russia of refined oil products like diesel, and impose a price cap on exports elsewhere. It follows a similar move in December on crude oil shipments. But what will it do to supplies? And how will it affect prices at the pump? Plus, we hear from a shopkeeper in Hong Kong who has had to ditch all her CBD stock in response to new laws. And, why teenagers in the U.K. are clamouring for a new drink called Prime.

California has been a leader in consumer data privacy law. But those protections don’t mean much if they’re not being enforced. So, under a sweeping voter initiative that took effect this year, the state has created an agency dedicated to the task. It’s the first of its kind in the U.S., which, unlike Europe, has no comprehensive federal data privacy regulation. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Ashkan Soltani, the executive director of the new California Privacy Protection Agency. He said one of his goals is to educate the public about their rights under the newly expanded California Privacy Rights Act.

Last week, office occupancy rates in major cities hit a milestone, reaching half of their pre-pandemic levels. While most places feel just as crowded as they did before, offices are an exception. Today, a closer look at the sluggish return to office buildings. Plus, the house behind the pitchfork in “American Gothic” and how homebuyers are feeling about higher mortgage rates.

Need some Econ 101? Sign up for our Marketplace Crash Course and get weekly lessons to complete at your own pace!

We’ll get to the important news, but first— a Make Me Smile for the ages. In a series of tweets about the spiritual significance of each finger, Pope Francis said the middle finger means honesty. Of course, Twitter ran away with it. In other news, the United States will now have more access to bases in the Philippines, another sign of high tensions in the South China Sea. Plus, we’ll discuss the story of Marie Van Brittan Brown, the largely unknown Black woman behind a familiar invention. And, Harvard University is discontinuing a high-profile project dedicated to studying online misinformation.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

Join us tomorrow for Economics on Tap. The YouTube livestream starts at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time/6:30 p.m. Eastern. We’ll have news, drinks, a game and more.

Meta released its quarterly earnings yesterday, posting dismal results that showed the company took in only half the profits earned last year. But investors are bullish for a number of reasons, including cost-cutting measures and good signs that Facebook is doing well. A new report shows that undergraduate college enrollment is stabilizing after prolonged declines, but not for majors that lead to careers in health care. And, a new agreement between the U.S., Netherlands, and Japan will further restrict the flow of advanced microchips to China.

Need some Econ 101? Sign up for our Marketplace Crash Course and get weekly lessons to complete at your own pace!

Any student studying introductory economics could tell you about traditional concepts like efficiency, production functions, and others. But there’s one essential concept that’s often glossed over: economic inequality. As part of our Marketplace Crash Course series, we spoke with Homa Zarghamee, professor of economics at Barnard College, about inequality and why it’s important to learn about. And, a look into why the Fed chose to raise rates by a quarter-percent yesterday.

Need some Econ 101? Sign up for our Marketplace Crash Course and get weekly lessons to complete at your own pace!

From the BBC World Service: The war in Ukraine and responses to it pushed oil and gas prices to record highs in 2022. It’s meant bumper profits for the world’s oil majors, and today was Shell’s turn with profits of $40bn. But what is it doing with the windfall? Plus, the Indian conglomerate Adani group continues to see its share price collapse after a highly critical report by the U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research. The company’s boss Gautam Adani has lost the title of Asia’s richest man, but he’s fighting back insisting the business is “robust”.

Many of the biggest tech platforms, from Amazon to Facebook, follow a similar pattern of transformation, according to a recent essay from the author and internet activist Cory Doctorow. First, he says, these platforms court users with artificially low prices on products or an exciting way to connect with friends. Then, they hook sellers, like advertisers or third-party retailers, with promises of reaching a captive audience. Finally, Doctorow says, as companies try to maximize their profits, they end up ruining the experience on their platforms through a process he describes with a four-letter word we can’t broadcast or publish.