When unemployment becomes endless

August 21, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

For Will Thomas, getting laid off last September from a public-benefit startup came with a flicker of relief. The job wasn’t a great fit. But he knew the timing was bad for policy work in D.C. “So I knew that this was going to be a long and tough road,” he says. He figured six to eight months. Almost a year later, he is still looking. “Lately, it has largely felt like screaming into the void.”

Thomas is part of a quietly growing slice of the labor market: the long-term unemployed. The official unemployment rate sits at 4.1%, historically low. But the Bureau of Labor Statistics also tracks how long people have been out of work. More than a quarter of the unemployed have been job-hunting for at least 27 weeks. Unemployment benefits typically run out after 26 weeks, and in some states, after just 12. Marketplace’s Samantha Fields reported on what happens when the search stretches past that safety net.

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What you'll learn

1 (01:48) **Canada Tariff Deadline Looms** - Anna Swanson reports on the ticking clock for $20 billion in Canadian tariffs and the broader NAFTA renegotiation.
2 (03:00) **Treasury Secretary's Bond Market Intervention Fails** - Sudeep Reddy explains why Treasury Secretary Bessent's attempt to calm the 30-year bond yield failed to restore credibility.
3 (05:37) **"Grow Our Way Out of It" Is Not Enough** - The panel critiques Bessent's claim that there's "nothing magic about $40 trillion" and that growth can solve the debt problem.
4 (08:13) **Lone Star Tick "Larval Bombs" Threaten Livestock and Tourism** - A new wave of aggressive ticks that cause red meat allergy is hitting parts of the country, with major economic consequences.
5 (10:51) **My Economy: Birdwatching Tours on a Family Cattle Farm** - Christopher Joe of Newbern, Alabama, explains how he turned his family's Black Angus cattle farm into a multi-generational eco-tourism business.
6 (14:06) **Market Numbers and a Tick Stock Mention** - Stocks rebounded Friday, but the week ended lower, and the host ties tick-related stocks to the earlier story.
7 (18:24) **The Growing Crisis of Long-Term Unemployment** - More than a quarter of unemployed workers have been jobless for at least 27 weeks, far exceeding typical unemployment benefits.

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Guests on this episode

Michelle Evermore Anna Swanson

Show Notes

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, at least 1.8 million Americans have been actively looking for a fulltime job for more than 27 weeks. That’s over six months. In this episode, two people tell us what it’s like to navigate a never-ending job search. Plus: A surge in lone star ticks threatens the cattle industry, McDonald’s keeps huge amounts of data on frequent customers, and the national debt passes that $40 trillion threshold.

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