Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Okay, look, fish tacos. That's all I'm saying. From American Public Media, this is Market Plants. In Los Angeles, I'm Kyle Rizdahl. It is Wednesday today. This one is the 4th of February. Good as always to have you along, everybody. We begin on this Wednesday, as we are wont to do from time to time, with an eye on the economic calendar.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, no longer shut down, told us this morning that the January unemployment report, originally due on Friday, will now show up on Wednesday next. Which... Great. But at this point, can you blame us for trying to find other ways to measure the labor market at this fraught moment?
The payroll processing company ADP said this morning the economy added just 22,000 jobs in January. Marketplace's Sabri Beneshor spent his day reading those labor market tea leaves.
Clarence Clue is 43. He's his own boss. He's worked in PR in New York for a long time, and he is thinking it is time to branch out.
I see the writing on the wall for the industry in itself.
Businesses are still figuring out AI. Budgets are on hold. So he's looking for all kinds of positions.
The world around us is changing rapidly. I think we should be open to evolving as well. How do I feel about the market right now? Honestly, I think it's a bit terrifying.
Clue's not alone in feeling that way. Consumer sentiment is still depressed. That said, the job market looks to be at least stable. There's still jobs being added, but it's at a much slower rate. Macrina Wilkins is director of market insights at Associated General Contractors of America. It's hard to tell for sure right now because the government isn't releasing official data.
So economists are looking at other things, like what payroll processors are reporting.
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Chapter 2: How is the labor market evolving in 2025?
There's enough headwinds out there that I would be, I'd say caution is warranted.
Oh, that's Nada Sanders, a professor of supply chain management at Northeastern University. Monica Gorman there as well, managing director at Kroll Global Advisors. All right, so they are cautious, but why is that?
Yes, this is a jump compared to the previous month, but this is January. We're coming off of the holiday season. We're typically in a time of reorders. So it's not not totally surprising that we're seeing some uptick in January.
OK, what else?
We're also seeing expansion in construction, which, of course, is required to build data centers.
Ah, yes. A.I. But also how many people are actually working in those data centers, gang?
One of the things that is really clear is that the employment rate has not does not seem to to be following growth. I think if you look at employment, for instance, we're continuing to see contractions in employment. That's what people are going to be feeling.
As we have said a time or two, I do believe headlines are great. But what really matters is how people are feeling about this economy in their day to day.
I think we're going to want to watch and see where this goes from here. Is this a trend or is this a blip in what has otherwise been a a bit of a downturn for a number of years.
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Chapter 3: What is the impact of cargo theft on the economy?
I should have you describe this place. Give it the radio description for people who can't see it.
So Mercado La Paloma is this beautiful community center in South L.A. where you walk in. And there's six independently owned restaurants. There's four shops. And then there's non-profits on the second floor. And I think Mercado Paloma is unique in that all of these places truly reflect somebody's story. Chichen Itza is the culmination of my parents' lifelong dream.
Chapter 4: How has the nature of cargo theft changed in recent years?
And Holbox is mine. Tell me about your parents. My parents. Don Gilberto and Doña Blanca. From Yucatan, as am I. We immigrated to the United States for the first time in 1985. I was five years old. And like most immigrants, we came because things were tough in Mexico. They were looking for better opportunity for my sister and myself.
And again, like most immigrants, my parents had lots of different jobs. My dad focused on culinary jobs and did his passion, which was cook traditional Yucatecan food as a side hustle. Eventually, that side hustle got my mom involved into it. My sister and I, we were the little helpers shredding chicken for tamales for Sunday sales after church. My dad is my only chef mentor that I've ever had.
He was really great at connecting with customers and telling his story of his upbringing, his culinary roots through food. And I learned how powerful that was. And that's really what we try to do at Holbox.
I want to get to Holbox first. But it occurs to me, this is kind of an interview and a story, yours anyway, about place. Literally about Yucatan, but also about this place, Mercado La Paloma, and also this place, L.A., in South L.A.
I don't know. Am I making that up? No. No, that's really what the story is about. Mercado La Paloma is instrumental in everything that has happened to me. It was the only place my dad could open a restaurant. He didn't choose Mercado La Paloma amongst other options. This was a project started by a nonprofit, Esperanza Community Housing.
And the idea was, let's bring people that have something to tell through their food. but don't have the resources to do it, and let's help them out. So the nonprofit helped us out, my family out, with loans, small business training, basic accounting, these things that we didn't have and were outside of the reach of our resources. They co-signed loans for my dad to buy equipment.
So it's huge, and it formed a really strong relationship, which we continue to carry.
Is Place why you're still here? I mean, you're having amazing success. You could franchise, you could go to New York, you could go to... I mean, almost anywhere, right? On the strength of your name and what you've built. And yet you're still here.
I plan on staying at Mercado La Paloma. I love the idea of Holbox being born here in this place and that its entire lifespan be here. That's not to say that I won't take on new projects, but they will not be Holbox and they will not be in L.A.
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