Sydney Ember

Median household income rose to a record $87,460 in 2025, according to annual Census Bureau data on the financial well-being of Americans.

President Trump’s levies on a long, eclectic list of products from Canada have companies scrambling to figure out if their supply chains are affected.

Employers added 162,000 jobs and unemployment held at 4.1 percent last month, signs of a stability that contrasted with high inflation weighing on households and markets.

Hundreds of thousands of people are creating companies each year, ending a decades-long drought.

Unemployment remained steady at 4.3 percent.

Small businesses say relentless pressures from tariffs and higher energy prices have sapped their resilience and finances.

The Federal Reserve’s new chairman held a press conference where he bantered with reporters and laid out a vision for change at the central bank.

The labor market has improved, but people entering the work force are having a harder time starting careers, a dynamic that has had permanent effects in the past.

Sydney Ember, a Times business reporter, has been speaking with recent college graduates struggling to find work. She explains why starting a career in the current economy could leave lasting scars on wages and opportunities.

The New York Times profiled young job seekers in 1991. Today, their own children are entering a work force in flux.