Community colleges are kind of underrated

NPR. Hey, Robert. I love these, anniversary balloons. Thank you. Are you celebrating the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of the United States? Oh, no. I I totally forgotten about the, Sester Centennial. I think they're calling it the semi quincentennial. To each his own. But but, no. These balloons are my yearly celebration of the anniversary of the very first beige book in 1970. The beige book. Of course, our favorite government document filled with juicy anecdotes about the economy from around The US. It was just as juicy fifty six years ago when it started. Although back in those days, it was a secret report that only people at the Federal Reserve got to read. Now, of course, everyone can celebrate it. And what is the standard way to celebrate the beige book? Fireworks? A beige arch in front of the NPR Building? How about an award show? It's the Beige Awards. Our eight times a year salute to the art and science of telling stories about the economy. I'm Robert Smith. I'm Adrienne Ma. And, eight times a year, they call that an octenary. Nice. Today on the show, we look at one way workers are reacting to the nervous job market right now. The Declaration of Independence says we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And we find a magical place where some job seekers are finding all three. It's a community college. After the break. This message comes from LinkedIn. Owning a small business comes with a lot of challenges and means juggling multiple things at once. It's even harder to do it efficiently. But with LinkedIn, you get all the tools you need to grow in one place. With LinkedIn, simplify your sales, marketing, and hiring so that you can actually run your small business. Learn more at linkedin.com/indicatorshow. This message comes from Pure Leaf Mental Focus Sparkling Iced Tea. Introducing a line of sparkling real brewed iced teas made with naturally occurring caffeine and added l theanine to help support attention. Find them at pureleaf.com/find-us. This message comes from Dell Technologies. Interruptions happen at work, but with the Dell Pro laptop powered by Intel Core Ultra with vPro built with optimized battery and built in intelligence, your tech won't slow you down. Dell.com/dell-pro, built for you. We always like to remind everyone how this award show works. There are 12 regional banks in the Federal Reserve System. Each one studies their local economy and brings back these little stories of what they see. They publish them in a document known as the Beige Book, and we give awards to the best stories. First, the runner ups. Two of the best stories we read in the most recent Beige Book were about the construction industry. High interest rates have been slowing down new home sales in some parts of the country, and so we're getting a shared runner-up award to the Atlanta Fed and the Cleveland Fed. First, the Atlanta …