The Daily Dive

As the US economy has recouped around 22 million jobs that were lost during the pandemic, many of these workers are new and inexperienced. These workers shuffled around between industries and are thrown into the fray without as much training as they need. This inexperience has caused service to be slow and inefficient with some of the most effected industries being restaurants, airlines, and even hospital systems. Lauren Weber, reporter at the Wall Street Journal, joins Oscar Ramirez for more.

Next, we may have seen the end of the coupon. As inflation remains high and costs of goods seem to skyrocket, many are looking for deals. However, circulation of paper and digital coupons is down and redemption rates have plummeted. It seems that people just don’t have the time to sort through them anymore. And with the rise of smartphones and online shopping, customers are incentivized to get their deals through other means.  Lydia DePillis, economy reporter at the NY Times, joins Oscar Ramirez to explain where all of the coupons have gone.

Finally, how many friends do you actually need? Although some have said we can hold around 150 meaningful relationships at one time, research says that the magic number of close friends is about 3-5.  And these close relationships take time, with it taking around 200 hours to become close with someone. Allie Volpe, senior reporter at Vox, joins Oscar Ramirez for more.

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A new Gallup poll shows that half of US workers say they are quiet quitting, a phenomenon in which employees do the bare minimum at work. The key term here is employee engagement which measures involvement at work and enthusiasm employees have about work. Since 2021, employee engagement has fallen as workers feel unfulfilled with their jobs and are now being asked to return to the office. Ray Smith, reporter on the Careers Team at the Wall Street Journal, joins Oscar Ramirez for more on quiet quitting.

Next, did you know there is a secret world of private gigs?  These have always been around, but now music stars are getting paid millions to play private weddings and parties.  The key here, is secrecy. Attendees usually sign NDAs to protect all parties involved from criticism of inequality of wealth and how much is being paid for these acts.  Experts say that this trend will continue, moving beyond acts hired for nostalgia to pop stars.  David Browne, senior writer at Rolling Stone, joins Oscar Ramirez for more.

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This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Schools are back but they are still dealing with the setbacks and learning loss all due to the pandemic.  Recently we saw Department of Education data showing 9-year-olds are behind in reading and math, the sharpest decline we’ve seen since 1990.  The learning loss was generally worse in districts that kept classes remote longer.  To combat this, states are spending billions on tutoring, expanded summer school, and more individual attention for students.  Scott Calvert, reporter at the WSJ, joins us for more on what schools are doing and how they are tracking progress.

Next, we’ll tell you about LA’s first street psychiatrist trying to tackle mental health in the homeless population where it is desperately needed.  Dr. Shayan Rab leads the Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement (HOME) team and approaches homeless individuals with the hopes of getting them long-term treatment and off the street.  Since this street-based treatment is not done in a traditional setting, Dr. Rab and his team must get creative and resourceful in how they provide help and even fill prescriptions.  Doug Smith, senior writer at the LA Times, joins us for how street psychiatry is trying to pull some out of homelessness.

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A lot of people out there have some regrets about their education.  Just about 2 in 5 American graduates regret the major they took with almost half of humanities and arts majors regretting their choice.  After the Great Recession, the country took a big shift to STEM majors and generally those students were happy with their decision.  Andrew Van Dam, Department of Data columnist at The Washington Post, joins us for the most regretted and lowest paying college majors.

Next, as the uneven economic news leads to fears of a recession, people are worried about their job security as companies look to cut costs.  The four kinds of employees most likely to get laid off in a downturn are new hires, high earners, millennials, and recruiters and coders.  Aki Ito, senior correspondent at Insider, joins us for how those who benefitted from the Great Resignation are most at risk.

Finally, as overall pandemic worries continue to fade, one of the biggest curiosities continues to be log Covid, what causes it and who is the most susceptible?  A new study says that psychological factors such as depression, anxiety, and loneliness, could be better predictors than physical ailments.  To be clear, it is not a causal relationship, but there is an association.  Siwen Wang, research fellow at Harvard and lead author of this study, joins us for what to know.

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U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday granted former President Trump’s requested to appoint a special master to review documents seized during the raid at Mar-a-Lago.  With her decision, Cannon, who is a Trump appointee, has also waded into the messy politics of the whole situation as many quickly criticized the ruling.  Zoe Tillman, senior reporter at Bloomberg News, joins us for what to know about the special master and its impact.

Next, we’ll tell you about all the backlash to quiet quitting.  It started as a movement among office workers to just do the bare minimum and draw more work/life boundaries, but bosses and work coaches say there really isn’t a reason to coast on the job.  Detractors say it can cause more laziness and even hurt the performance of other employees.   Kathryn Dill, reporter at the WSJ, joins us for why people are hating on quiet quitting.

Finally, you may have seen them strolling on a sidewalk near you, but delivery robots may not be ready for prime time just yet.  A pilot program in 4 cities looking at the impact of these delivery bots determined that in a lot of cases it was the failure of local infrastructure that proved difficult for them to succeed.  They worked in more controlled environments but might not be ready for more critical tasks such as delivering medication.  Joann Muller, transportation correspondent at Axios, joins us for more.

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Teachers in California have been struggling to make ends meet and, in some cases, they are having to take on side gigs to be able to afford to live in the areas where they teach.  A recent survey showed that almost 70% of teachers in the LA area have considered quitting, 28% of them had a second job.  Nationally there are about 300,000 fewer workers in public education in June of this year compared to February 2020.  Michael Sainato, reporter at the Guardian, joins us for how more on teachers thinking about leaving the profession.

Next, telehealth companies got a big push during the pandemic when rules were waived that required people to see an in-person health provider to be prescribed controlled substances.  Now telehealth apps are spending millions to advertise on TikTok saying they can get a person a diagnosis of ADHD and a prescription for Adderall in as little as 30 minutes.  Content creators are also posting about living life with ADHD leading to billions of views and many to think they might also have the condition. Then they are targeted with ads.  Sara Morrison, senior reporter at Recode, joins us for how startups are pushing Adderall on TikTok.

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Even as pandemic disruptions have faded and most schools have returned to in-person instruction, permanent virtual classes are still being offered to protect vulnerable children.  Districts in Texas, California, and New York are creating full-time remote learning programs for this school year.  The virtual option may only be appropriate for a small percentage of students, but in an effort to fight declining enrollment and disruptions from families moving, virtual schools will remain part of the education system. Ben Chapman, education reporter at the WSJ, joins us for what to know.

Next, the country has been grappling with a drug overdose crisis driven by opioids, most notably fentanyl.  Early on, most of the fentanyl came from China, but now two Mexican drug cartels have dominated the supply coming to the U.S.  The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels have set up sophisticated operations handling the manufacturing, marketing, and delivery of the synthetic drug.  For them, the formula is easy to replicate and inexpensive to make.  Jon Kamp, reporter at the WSJ, joins us for how these cartels are controlling the U.S. fentanyl market.

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This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.