Amy Scott

Marketplace's Kristen Schwab has more.

The job market is maybe the economic indicator to watch right now.

And it's not looking bad, but it's not looking good.

Michael Linden at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth says a lot of the fragility is in the long-term unemployment rate.

26% of unemployed people have been out of work for 27-plus weeks.

Before and after the pandemic, the number hovered around 20%, which makes this spike unusual.

It means something funny is happening in the labor market right now.

Elise Gould is with the Economic Policy Institute.

Employers are not doing a lot of hiring right now.

Workers are not quitting.

There's not a lot of churn in the labor market, so it's harder for workers to break in.

Low hire, low fire.

You've heard us say it before.

Another idea is that we're in the middle of a job market reorganization, says Philip Kayser at Cornell.

Some workers are being replaced with AI.

He says even if the unemployment rate stays relatively low, long-term unemployment still has negative effects on the economy and negative effects on those job seekers the longer they seek.

I'm Kristen Schwab for Marketplace.

Technological change is a constant in farming.

About a century ago, farmers were ditching their horses and plows for the gas-powered tractor.

Now in 2026, they're using AI.