Alana Semuels

Why So Many Women Are Quitting the Workforce Labor force participation among women has started falling again in 2025.

Return-to-office policies are not proven to make companies more productive. Many CEOs who reported women quitting said they were struggling to fill jobs because of that loss of female employees and that their overall workforce productivity is down. time.com/7306896/wome...

"For many women, this is more than an economic problem: it’s a depressing reminder that the brief period of time when work-from-home reigned—when balancing family and work was actually sometimes possible—is over."

“What is most heartbreaking about all of this is that the pandemic felt like this revolution, where they finally realized we’re human beings and they’ll treat us with some degree of respect,” says a mother whose company now mandates three in-office workdays. “It’s like we didn’t learn anything.”

Here's a useful chart from ‪@mlheggeness.bsky.social‬ -- the black line is women's labor force participation this year

Why So Many Women Are Quitting the Workforce Labor force participation among women has started falling again in 2025.

After a pandemic boost, women's labor force participation is falling again. Why? A combination of strict RTO policies and vanishing childcare funding: time.com/7306896/wome...

'People Are Going to Die': Cuts Leave Domestic Violence Support Groups Reeling Key federal funding has been declining and is likely to drop more in coming years.

Falling funding for domestic violence support groups is leading to shuttered shelters, closed hotlines, and a reduction in resources for survivors.

"People are going to die," one advocate told me.

time.com/7305918/dome...

The FDA Might Ban Fluoride Supplements. Dentists Are Upset Ingestible fluoride is under fire by the FDA. Dentists are pushing back.

I sat through an all-day FDA hearing on fluoride supplements so you didn't have to! Dentists, doctors, and, um, science, were on the defensive.
time.com/7305009/fda-...

Why So Many Seniors Can't Afford Long-Term Care A growing group of middle-income elderly people are too rich for government benefits but can't afford long-term care.

I wrote about the seniors who are "too rich" for Medicaid but too poor to afford the long-term care they need. Their numbers are growing as the country ages and will likely grow more with Medicaid cuts.
time.com/7304510/seni...

How Health Insurance Monopolies Affect Your Care In some states, one health insurer dominates the market, driving up prices and creating red tape.

In many states, one health insurer has a monopoly on the market. That drives up prices and worsens care. In Alabama, BCBS has 94% market share.
time.com/7302346/heal...

The Surprising Reason Rural Hospitals Are Closing It's not just Medicaid or Medicare: Private insurance payments lag in rural areas.

Rural hospitals are closing across the country. Why? It's probably not what you think.
time.com/7298891/rura...

Abortion Bans Worsen Violence in Relationships, Study Finds A new study shows that intimate partner violence increased in places requiring far travel to abortion clinics.

Violence in intimate relationships increased 7-10% in regions that added abortion restrictions after Dobbs, a new study finds: time.com/7295172/abor...

“I have gone down to Haiti nine times, and I have never seen the level of decay that I saw when I worked in Florida,” one dentist told me, about Floridian teeth.

America's Dental Health Is in Trouble Fluoride bans and proposed Medicaid cuts are worrying dentists.

America’s teeth are in bad shape, and dentists say that looming policy changes like Medicaid cuts and bans on fluoridation will make them even worse. time.com/7291226/amer...

How to Decimate a City Syracuse thought that by building a giant highway in the middle of town it could become an economic powerhouse. Instead, it got a bad bout of white flight and the worst slum problem in America.

Learn more about 81 here from an old piece by @alanasemuels.bsky.social

www.theatlantic.com/business/arc...

and the need for better road systems from City Limits by @megankimble.bsky.social

Trump Administration Cuts Funding for Autism Research Despite focusing on finding a cause, the Trump Administration has cut many autism programs.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was just asked if the administration has cut any funding to autism. The answer is yes:
time.com/7279068/trum...

When Fighting with Your Insurance Company Becomes a Full-Time Job The American health care system requires us to spend too much time getting coverage approved.

Americans spend countless hours on the phone battling with their health insurance companies.

It's time for the employers who buy these health insurance policies to do something about it:
time.com/7284610/figh...

One thing her perspective, which pins disease avoidance and overall health on eating well, avoiding processed foods and pharmaceuticals, and exercising frequently, does not seem to answer is why people who eat well and exercise a lot still drop dead at 40 or get cancer.

Inside the Health Views of Casey Means, Trump’s Surgeon General Nominee Means holds many health beliefs that mirror those of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

I wrote about the new surgeon general pick, Casey Means, who believes drugs are overprescribed and many health problems can be solved by changes in lifestyle.

She also wrote an AI-assisted poem that pretty much sums up MAHA if you are into that type of thing.

time.com/7284235/dr-c...

Trump Administration Cuts Funding for Autism Research Despite focusing on finding a cause, the Trump Administration has cut many autism programs.

Even as RFK Jr. fearmongers about autism, the Trump administration cut funding for autism research, @alanasemuels.bsky.social reports.
time.com/7279068/trum...

Trump Administration Cuts Funding for Autism Research Despite focusing on finding a cause, the Trump Administration has cut many autism programs.

It might surprise people, but the Department of Defense spends millions of dollars to research autism because of the number of autistic kids of US servicemembers. But the Trump administration cut funding via @time.com @alanasemuels.bsky.social time.com/7279068/trum...

1/ Time just published an article by @alanasemuels.bsky.social listing sweeping Trump admin cuts to autism research and support, even as RFK Jr., HHS Sec, commits to finding the "cause" of autism. We need to look at what people do, not just what they say.

Here’s a thread on what’s being cut.

How Having a Baby Is Changing Under Trump Cuts to federal health institutions could alter newborn hearing and rare disease screening programs.

What happens after birth is changing under Trump.

A CDC division coordinating newborn hearing screening was decimated in HHS cuts, and a committee recommending what rare diseases babies are tested for was dissolved.

time.com/7278169/baby...

Oh man I was such a National History Day nerd

AlanaSemuels on X: "Advocates were concerned about food safety in the U.S. even before the massive layoffs at HHS. Now, there's even more reason to worry. https://t.co/216TVZTOeS" / X Advocates were concerned about food safety in the U.S. even before the massive layoffs at HHS. Now, there's even more reason to worry. https://t.co/216TVZTOeS

Food safety inspections aren't keeping pace with what's mandated by law and the FDA is cutting funding to states.

Then came the mass layoffs.

Why advocates say the HHS layoffs came at a difficult time for food safety in the U.S.:
x.com/AlanaSemuels...

What the Venezuelans Deported to El Salvador Experienced Exclusive photos of the arrival of Venezuelan detainees deported from the U.S.

“One young man sobbed when a guard pushed him to the floor. He said, ‘I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a barber.’ I believed him. *** He “began to whimper,” as his head was roughly shaved, “folding his hands in prayer as his hair fell.” He “asked for his mother & cried as he was slapped again.”

21. As an economic correspondent for TIME, @alanasemuels.bsky.social covers the workplace, consumer issues, retail, gender, and technology.

She has won awards from @sabew.bsky.social and is a four-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism.

The People Quitting Health Insurance For An Alternative Idea Customers sick of dealing with insurance are turning to health sharing as an alternative

I wrote about people who hated health insurance so much they quit it and instead joined health sharing websites where they ask strangers to help with their healthcare bills.

Surprisingly, they like resoundingly like it better. #CrowdHealth

time.com/7269608/crow...

I Delivered Packages for Amazon and It Was a Nightmare Amazon Flex pays contractors to deliver packages from their own vehicles. But is it a good deal for workers?

And, my favorite: I Delivered Packages for Amazon and It Was a Nightmare (from 2018).

"The average long-haul trucker today makes about $40,000, down from the equivalent of $100,000 in 1980."

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

The Problem With the Way We Train Truckers Supply-chain issues are leading to demand for more truckers on the roads, but training is problematic

There's a problem with how we train truckers
time.com/6144516/truc...

The Great American Trucker Shortage Isn't Real The trucking industry has a retention problem, not a recruitment problem.

For some of my previous work on trucking, here are some links:
The Truck Driver Shortage Doesn't Exist. Saying There Is One Makes Conditions Worse for Drivers time.com/6116853/truc...