r/EconomyCharts

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**Source:** WSJ, 12 May 2026

**Article Summary:**

Over the past year, nearly all net job growth has come from healthcare and social assistance, a sector with a dearth of men. Sectors with heavily male workforces have been losing jobs. The postpandemic period has seen an influx of women in their prime working years into employment. The share of men working has flatlined.

The divergent path might widen in the years ahead. As the needs of an aging population stack up, occupations that men have historically been loath to enter, such as jobs as home health aides and medical assistants, will likely play a bigger role in the labor market.

A growing educational divide is also part of the equation: Women now earn bachelor's degrees at a substantially higher rate than men, and employment rates among people who are college-educated are substantially higher than those who aren't.

Friday, the Labor Department reported the overall unemployment rate stayed steady at 4.3%. Unemployment rates for men and for women weren't all that different from each other—4.4% vs 4.2%, respectively—just as they weren't before the pandemic. But the unemployment rate includes only people actively looking for work. A broader picture of employment trends comes from looking at the share of the population that is working.

Among men age 16 and over, the employment-to-population ratio was 64.1% in April. That compared with an average of 66.6% in 2019, and 70.9% in the 1990s. A lot of that decline can be explained by an aging population: There are a lot more male retirees than there used to be.

The share of women working has always been lower than men's, but it has held up much better despite an aging population. Women's employment-to-population ratio came to 54.5% in April, a bit below its 2019 and 1990s averages.

Pakistan: solar just overtook coal as the largest single source of electricity.

21% of power from solar in 2025. Up from 2% in 2019.

Coal peaked at 20% in 2020.

Solar, wind, and storage are absolutely dwarfing fossil fuels and nuclear...

To put this in perspective: China alone installed 415 GW of solar in 2025. That single country's solar installations in one year exceeded the entire cumulative capacity of every operational nuclear reactor on Earth combined (~376 GW).

Germany has the EU’s biggest battery pipeline. Ember's new analysis sets out the state of play. Over 2.5 GW of large-scale batteries are operational in Germany, more than double two years ago, and around a quarter of the EU total. The announced pipeline is 10.5 GW / 26.3 GWh. One in six German homeowners already has a home battery, and 30% are considering one in the next five years.

If Germany's announced battery pipeline had been operational in 2025, it could have avoided around a third of the 8 TWh of wind and solar curtailed last year. This level of curtailment underscores why closing nuclear plants was viewed as a step to speed up the transition; their inflexible "always-on" nature often crowded the grid, forcing renewables to be switched off during peak production. By removing this baseload "clog," Germany paved the way for a more flexible system where batteries can now capture that excess green energy.

The estimated savings from this shift are significant: roughly €0.8 billion in redispatch costs and avoided gas purchases—more than the cost of the batteries themselves. Had Germany deployed its current battery pipeline in 2025, it could have avoided those €800 million in gas purchases and redispatch costs.

“Amid Germany’s current fossil fuels crisis, eliminating policy barriers to batteries and other non-fossil flexibility solutions will fortify energy security and prevent costly long-term reliance on gas imports,” notes report co-author, Ember’s Beatrice Petrovich.

“We are seeing a sharp rise in demand for battery storage systems among local authorities and private households. The focus now must be on creating the right framework conditions to ensure that investment plans can become a reality – in terms of cost-efficiency, flexibility and security of supply,” adds Clara Mewes, report co-author from Initiative Klimaneutrales Deutschland (IKND).

https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/germanys-battery-opportunity/

China exports goods worth 73% more than the United States: $3.77T versus $2.18T.

China's $940B in electrical machinery exports alone nearly matches half of all US global exports, underscoring its manufacturing dominance.

China's leading categories are manufactured goods shipped and embedded into economies worldwide.

This advantage isn’t easily undone; physical supply chain dominance takes decades to reverse. You can’t fix that with dollars or better software.

Full trade comparison of both countries here: https://www.vizmaya.fyi/story/the-century-trade-story

Source: http://english.customs.gov.cn/Statics/dbe2c034-de23-4794-83ce-74d1a2bf14e6.html,

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/exports-by-category

China's recent surplus is more than 3x higher what the Eurozone (Germany) and Japan ran at their peaks. This is why more than 50 of the 70 largest economies are putting up trade defences against China.

To put this in perspective: China alone installed 415 GW of solar in 2025. That single country's solar installations in one year exceeded the entire cumulative capacity of every operational nuclear reactor on Earth combined (~376 GW).

A massive new global study completely demolishes fossil fuels and nuclear power. The economics just flipped: a brand-new report from IRENA proves that building firm, round-the-clock solar-plus-storage from scratch is now actively cheaper than just buying the fuel to keep an existing, fully paid-off gas or coal plant running. Since 2010, battery costs have crashed by 93% and solar by 87%, bringing the price of 24/7 hybrid power down to $54–$82/MWh—decisively undercutting fossil fuels. This completely changes the game. Historically, old fossil plants were a cheap, stubborn baseline because their capital costs were already paid off. Now that zero-marginal-cost solar backed by cheap batteries is undercutting their literal fuel floors, sticking with gas isn't saving anyone money—it's what's actually going to inflate consumers' bills. This isn't a luxury tax for the environment; it's basic economics eating fossil fuels for dinner.

IRENA Report Says 24/7 Solar And Wind Power Now Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels - SolarQuarter https://solarquarter.com/2026/05/07/irena-report-says-24-7-solar-and-wind-power-now-cheaper-than-fossil-fuels/#:~:text=Since%202010%2C%20the%20installation%20cost,93%25%20during%20the%20same%20period.

Sources: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/data/DPCERG3A086NBEA https://fred.stlouisfed.org/data/LEU0252881500A