Young people have never been this pessimistic about jobs / Everyone needs recess / Someone was living in their basement episode artwork

EPISODE · May 12, 2026 · 10 MIN

Young people have never been this pessimistic about jobs / Everyone needs recess / Someone was living in their basement

from News Sidequest

A new Gallup poll of 141 countries finds young Americans are more pessimistic about the job market than their older counterparts — creating a generational gap bigger than any other country in the survey. Historically, young Americans have always been more optimistic than older ones, even through the Great Recession. That pattern just broke. Also: the American Academy of Pediatrics just released its first new recess guidance in 13 years, and one of the doctors accidentally summarized the whole thing perfectly: "We all kind of need recess." And a professor in Searcy, Arkansas spent a week noticing his shoes had moved, food was disappearing, and chairs kept turning up in different places — before his family found a man living in a storage closet under his basement stairs. Plus an earthquake machine under the Alps, a pencil running for governor, a hospital wall smashing, and a dead rat in an energy drink. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A new Gallup poll of 141 countries finds young Americans are more pessimistic about the job market than their older counterparts — creating a generational gap bigger than any other country in the survey. Historically, young Americans have always been more optimistic than older ones, even through the Great Recession. That pattern just broke. Also: the American Academy of Pediatrics just released its first new recess guidance in 13 years, and one of the doctors accidentally summarized the whole thing perfectly: "We all kind of need recess." And a professor in Searcy, Arkansas spent a week noticing his shoes had moved, food was disappearing, and chairs kept turning up in different places — before his family found a man living in a storage closet under his basement stairs. Plus an earthquake machine under the Alps, a pencil running for governor, a hospital wall smashing, and a dead rat in an energy drink. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Young people have never been this pessimistic about jobs / Everyone needs recess / Someone was living in their basement

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This episode was published on May 12, 2026.

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A new Gallup poll of 141 countries finds young Americans are more pessimistic about the job market than their older counterparts — creating a generational gap bigger than any other country in the survey. Historically, young Americans have always...

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