Upshot: A college degree but no job

September 18, 2025

Sean Wittmeyer sitting at a wooden table in the office garage at his home.

Jordan Gale for The New York Times

The Newest Face of Long-Term Unemployment? The College Educated.

For years, only a small portion of the people experiencing long spells of joblessness were college graduates. That’s starting to change.

By Noam Scheiber

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WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FROM UPSHOT FRIENDS

The New York Times

Who Makes Decisions About Vaccine Policy Now?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has hired longtime vaccine safety skeptics and scientists who are critical of Covid shots and mandates to make immunization policy decisions for Americans.

By Amy Schoenfeld Walker and Lazaro Gamio

Karl Russell

Fed Cuts Rates for First Time This Year

The Federal Reserve lowered rates by a quarter point, but one governor voted for a bigger cut. Balancing persistent inflation and a weaker labor market was “a challenging situation,” the central bank chair said.

By Colby Smith

The New York Times

This Is Peak Hurricane Season. Or Is It?

Despite a few decidedly quiet periods so far, forecasters say the conditions are still favorable for more hurricanes this year. The latest storm, Gabrielle, formed on Wednesday.

By Judson Jones

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Tristan Spinski for The New York Times

Yes, Your Morning Coffee Has Gotten More Expensive

Coffee prices are up nearly 21 percent over the past year, partly because of President Trump’s punishing tariffs on Brazil and Vietnam.

By Sydney Ember

Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, photo by Paige Holzbauer, Estate of Gertrude Abercrombie

Try Spending Two Minutes With This Painting

Our reporter Larry Buchanan invites you to spend time staring at a single work by the surrealist painter Gertrude Abercrombie, guiding you through the painting and revealing how Abercrombie used her art to bring you inside her mind.

By Larry Buchanan, Coleman Lowndes, Estelle Caswell and James Surdam

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