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Federal surveys aren’t great at collecting data on Native Americans. One reason? As many as 60% of people who check the American Indian/Alaska Native box on forms also check another race box, the Brookings Institution found. In this episode, we’ll explain how undercounting impacts the federal government’s fulfillment of its obligations to Native nations. Plus, we’ll take a trip down the Houston Ship Channel and dissect the latest jobs report.

The May jobs report said wages had risen about 4% over 12 months, while inflation was 3.3% over the same period. Good news, right? Then why did consumer sentiment hit a 7-month low in June? In this episode, other wages-related measurements that might explain that economic pessimism. Plus, a Yale legislation-scoring group focuses on outcomes, and precision agriculture technology adoption is slow.

The Federal Reserve has a decision to make: cut interest rates to help the slackening job market and risk the progress it’s made in cooling inflation, or keep rates high — which could push unemployment up. In this episode, we’ll explain the economic inflection point and why interest rates don’t have the relationship to the labor market they once had. Plus, the presidential debate bumped up bond yields, the “beer industry” encompasses all types of drinks and customers nowadays, and one woman recalls her first 9-to-5.

Tuesday’s jobs report showed 200,000 more openings in May than the previous month — pretty yawn-worthy compared to the labor market roller coaster of the past few years. But don’t fret! All that boring data is actually a sign of stability. Also in this episode: Why organic produce is expensive to grow, what it’s going to take for global power sector emissions to fall, and which type of construction is dragging sector spending down.

Lawrence Brown created “Urban Cipher,” a Monopoly-like game, to illustrate the consequences of neighborhood redlining. We’ll join Baltimore city educators at a professional development session led by Brown and hear how redlining continues to affect families today. Also in this episode: Lumber prices fall while housing remains expensive, Toys R Us dips its toe into AI-generated advertising and a landscape designer tells us about his job before the arrival of drafting software.

Today we learned that the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a local law in Oregon that criminalizes sleeping in public places, authorizing punishment for homelessness. We’ll get into how this connects to the stalled housing market. Plus, SCOTUS curtails the powers of government agencies and national work-from-home rates reach a new normal.