The widening mismatch between an oversupply of college-educated workers and a deepening shortage of talent for non-degree, hands-on jobs has grown even more pronounced.

Bloomberg reports that the latest delayed BLS data shows a sharp deterioration in white-collar jobs, especially those holding four-year degrees, now making up a record 25% of all unemployed – or about 1.9 million folks, the highest level since 1992.

The unemployment rate for bachelor’s degree holders climbed to 2.8% in September, while joblessness for other education groups remained relatively the same. Young degree-holders are getting squeezed the most: unemployment for ages 20 to 24 jumped to 9.2%, an increase rarely seen outside recessions. 

The jobs data builds on our note last week, citing Goldman analysts led by Evan Tylenda, who spoke with labor demographer Ron Hetrick.

Their discussion highlighted an alarming shift in the labor market: an oversupply of college graduates and a shortage of non-college-degree technical workers.

ZeroHedge Pro subscribers can read the full note in the usual spot. It offers key understandings of the shifting labor market ahead of the 2030s. 

Palantir CEO Alex Karp recently had an epic quote about this emerging labor market mess :

The average Ivy League grad voting for this mayor is annoyed their education is not that valuable, and that the person who knows how to drill for oil has a more valuable profession.

I think that annoys the f*ck out of these people. 

Palantir CEO Alex Karp on Zohran Mamdani and NYC:

“We’re about to probably have a complete disaster. I was born in New York.

“If you asked, ‘do these things actually work?’ Everyone’s like, ‘of course I’m not going to vote for that.’ Instead they ask, ‘does it work in theory?’ pic.twitter.com/yvA6nn5Aeu

— Jawwwn (@jawwwn_) November 4, 2025

The education industrial complex has spent more time transforming kids into Marxist activists than preparing them for future labor market shifts. Now, these purple-haired degree holders are entering a shrinking labor market, and companies view these kids as giant liabilities.

It’s time for young people to consider avoiding overpriced college. Perhaps time to learn an actual skill that makes you valuable, one that lets you remain productive before automation and AI sweep the labor market, such as building data centers or working on natural gas turbines. 

Authored by T.J.Muscaro via The Epoch Times,

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is preparing for the busiest Thanksgiving holiday travel period in 15 years.

More than 360,000 flights are scheduled between Monday, Nov. 24, and Tuesday, Dec. 2, delivering people to and from their destinations across the country. Flights are set to peak on Nov. 25, with more than 52,000 flights alone, and Nov. 26 is expected to be nearly as busy, with more than 50,000 flights scheduled.

Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, is expected to see the lowest air traffic that week, with the administration forecasting more than 25,500 flights. Last week, the FAA ended its mandatory flight reductions and now stands ready to oversee the travel spike.

“Thanks to the dedication of our air traffic controllers and every FAA employee, we are ready for the holiday rush and take pride in helping travelers reach their friends and families during this important time of year,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said.

“I am deeply grateful to our entire FAA team. Even through a period of record-high traffic, their unwavering commitment keeps the system running safely.”

One of the airports that faced those reductions, Tampa International Airport (TPA) in Florida, released its own statement ahead of the holiday rush to assure travelers that it would be fully staffed.

“TPA is ready to fully handle the estimated 924,000-plus passengers projected to pass through the Airport over the Thanksgiving holiday travel period from November 20 to December 1,” the airport said in its statement.

“TPA’s operations team anticipates that Sunday, November 30, will be the busiest day, with an estimated 86,278 passengers expected to pass through the airport.”

If delays are experienced, it is unlikely to be due to the volume of flights, according to the FAA.

As of Nov. 10, the administration said that approximately 13.5 percent of total delay time was due to volume, while more than 62 percent was due to weather.

And weather could become an issue for several airports across the country and across the travel period.

“A frontal system passing from the Great Lakes to the interior Northeast Sunday into Monday will bring a mix of rain and snow showers,” the Weather Prediction Center said on Nov. 22.

“Thunderstorms will continue today for south Texas in [the] vicinity of a stationary frontal boundary.”

The Dallas-Fort Worth area is anticipating severe rainfall on Nov. 24, with rainfall totals possibly reaching up to four inches. However, on Thanksgiving Day, the weather is expected to be sunny and dry, with a high of 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

Heavy rains will also be felt across Texas and the Mississippi River, extending to Kansas City, Missouri.

“Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected late Monday into Tuesday as another disturbance and associated cold front pushes through Southeast TX,” the National Weather Service’s Houston office stated.

“Some storms will have the potential to become strong to severe. In addition, locally heavy rain will be possible. The greatest risk of strong to severe storms will be generally north of I-10. Instability will be a limiting factor though.”

Slow-moving showers will also affect the greater Atlanta area and the southeast.

“Slow-moving showers push into the area Tuesday night into Wednesday and Thursday with beneficial rainfall expected, especially over north Georgia,” the National Weather Service’s Atlanta/Peachtree City Office said.

Out west, Denver could also be affected as the National Weather Service reports a cold front moving across its part of the Rocky Mountains on Nov. 24 and Nov. 25, bringing possible snow showers. However, as of Nov. 22, forecasted travel impacts remain minimal.

The American Automobile Association (AAA) projected that approximately 6 million people will travel by air for Thanksgiving this year, a 2 million year-over-year increase. But this represents only a fraction of total travelers during this holiday period.

“At least 73 million people will travel by car, that’s nearly 90 percent of Thanksgiving travelers, and an additional 1.3 million people on the road compared to last Thanksgiving,” AAA said on its website.

“That number could end up being higher if some air travelers decide to drive instead of fly following recent flight cancellations.”

The global coffee market continues to grow, but consumption patterns vary widely across countries. Northern European nations dominate the upper tiers, driven by a long-standing café culture and high per-capita spending. Meanwhile, large emerging markets drink far less per person despite being major producers.

This visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, ranks 65 countries by their daily coffee consumption per capita in 2025, showing how drinking habits differ around the world. The table below also includes data on lifetime coffee consumption, and average cup prices.

The data for this ranking comes from Cafely.

Europe Continues to Dominate Global Coffee Consumption

Northern Europe remains the global center of coffee drinking. Luxembourg leads the world with 5.31 cups per day per person—far ahead of larger economies.

Luxembourg’s per-capita figure is boosted by its huge commuter workforce. Nearly half of all workers (47%) live outside the country, and their daily coffee consumption is counted in Luxembourg’s totals.

Finland and Sweden, long known for their strong coffee cultures, follow closely behind. All of the top 10 countries are European, reflecting both historical preferences and high purchasing power.

RankCountryDaily coffee
consumption
per Capita (Cups)Lifetime
Consumption (Cups)Price
per cupLifetime spending
1Luxembourg5.31118,227$3.60$425,618
2Finland3.7783,939$4.00$335,756
3Sweden2.5958,612$3.70$216,863
4Norway2.5758,159$4.40$255,900
5Austria2.0345,198$3.30$149,153
6Denmark2.0444,676$5.40$241,250
7Switzerland1.8742,318$5.00$211,591
8Netherlands1.7939,854$3.10$123,548
9Greece1.7137,449$3.10$116,092
10Germany1.6135,259$3.10$109,303
11Canada1.5734,956$3.50$122,346
12Belgium1.5734,383$3.10$106,587
13France1.4832,952$3.10$102,152
14Slovenia1.4932,631$1.70$55,473
15Italy1.4432,587$1.54$50,184
16Lebanon1.631,536$3.63$114,476
18Brazil1.5831,142$1.55$48,270
17Cyprus1.4231,098$3.17$98,581
19Portugal1.4130,879$1.66$51,259
20Croatia1.4730,583$1.72$52,603
21Estonia1.4429,959$3.05$91,376
22Lithuania1.4328,707$2.72$78,084
23Czech Republic1.2526,463$2.46$65,098
24United States1.2225,827$4.69$121,131
24Australia1.1425,798$3.24$83,586
26Ireland1.1325,159$3.47$87,303
27Spain1.0623,988$1.92$46,057
28Costa Rica1.0522,229$2.55$56,683
29Japan0.9321,385$3.10$66,295
30Poland0.9519,765$2.48$49,017
31Latvia0.9719,119$2.78$53,150
32Bulgaria0.9818,243$1.57$28,641
33South Korea0.7416,746$3.59$60,119
34Romania0.8616,637$2.01$33,440
35Malta0.6715,162$2.45$37,147
36Algeria0.7214,454$0.84$12,141
37El Salvador0.7113,217$2.65$35,024
38Hungary0.6412,848$1.57$20,171
39Venezuela0.6912,844$1.59$20,423
40Slovakia0.6112,468$2.15$26,807
41Colombia0.612,264$1.14$13,981
42Ukraine0.5810,797$1.13$12,200
43Saudi Arabia0.5210,629$3.82$40,602
44Taiwan0.469,906$2.79$27,638
45Dominican Republic0.529,870$2.11$20,825
46Russia0.59,673$2.91$28,147
47Honduras0.519,494$1.80$17,089
48Vietnam0.428,125$1.99$16,169
49Philippines0.437,848$2.47$19,383
50Ethiopia0.467,556$0.78$5,893
51Haiti0.467,220$2.74$19,782
52Turkey0.316,450$1.54$9,932
53Thailand0.36,351$1.81$11,495
54Morocco0.315,997$1.62$9,715
55Guatemala0.345,957$2.37$14,118
56Mexico0.295,610$2.55$14,306
57Indonesia0.274,829$2.06$9,948
58Argentina0.214,292$1.76$7,555
59Sudan0.233,694$1.80$6,649
60Madagascar0.193,051$1.19$3,631
61Egypt0.173,040$1.99$6,050
62South Africa0.172,544$1.72$4,376
63Peru0.112,208$2.50$5,521
64Uganda0.081,226$2.86$3,508
65India0.02365$1.83$668

Large Economies Consume Less Coffee Per Person

Despite being major consumers in absolute terms, large countries such as the United States, Japan, and Brazil rank much lower on a per-person basis.

The United States averages 1.22 cups per day, placing it 24th overall. Japan, with its thriving café scene and canned-coffee culture, averages just under one cup per day. Brazil, the world’s biggest coffee producer, lands mid-pack at 18th with 1.58 cups per day.

Some Countries Barely Drink Coffee at All

At the bottom of the ranking are countries where tea or other beverages dominate daily habits. India records the lowest consumption at just 0.02 cups per day—roughly one cup every seven weeks. Several African and South Asian countries also rank low, typically drinking less than 0.3 cups daily.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Which Countries Drink the Most Wine? on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Authored by Felicity Bradstock via OilPrice.com,

UK selects Rolls-Royce as preferred SMR developer and launches its first project at Wylfa, aiming for mid-2030s power generation.

The decision triggers criticism from the Trump administration, which pushed for U.S. firm Westinghouse to lead the project.

Despite diplomatic friction, the UK says SMRs will anchor a domestic nuclear revival and leave room for future collaboration with U.S. developers.

After selecting Rolls-Royce as the United Kingdom’s preferred bidder to build the country’s first small modular reactors (SMRs), the government has confirmed the start of project development in Wales. The development of SMR technology is expected to help the U.K. expand its nuclear power capacity, as well as become a competitive SMR power. However, the United States Trump administration, which recently signed an agreement with the U.K. for SMR development, does not support the choice of a British company for the development of the technology. 

In June, the U.K. government announced that Rolls-Royce SMR had been selected as the preferred bidder to partner with Great British Energy – Nuclear (GBE-N) to develop SMRs, subject to final government approvals and contract signature. The government pledged almost $3.3 billion for the SMR programme, expecting to support the creation of 3,000 new skilled jobs and power the equivalent of roughly 3 million homes with clean, domestic energy. 

The SMR project marks a major shift in the U.K.’s approach to nuclear energy, as it develops the first two major conventional nuclear plants in several decades and invests in new nuclear technologies. SMRs are smaller and faster to build than conventional nuclear reactors, and their modular nature means that more capacity can be added as required. 

In November, the government announced plans to develop a first-of-its-kind nuclear power station on the Welsh island of Anglesey. The plant at Wylfa will be home to three SMRs, although it will have space for up to eight, with works expected to commence in 2026 and first power generation in the mid-2030s.

The existing nuclear plant at Wylfa was powered down in 2015, and previous plans for a large-scale replacement were scrapped in 2021. The new project is expected to bring a much-needed boost to Anglesey’s economy, as well as provide jobs for several decades. Prime Minister Kier Starmer said, “Britain was once a world leader in nuclear power, but years of neglect and inertia have meant places like Anglesey have been let down and left behind. Today, that changes.”

The First Minister of Wales, Eluned Morgan, supports the project and has been “pressing the case at every opportunity for Wylfa’s incredible benefits”. Meanwhile, the U.K. energy minister, Ed Miliband, said that Britain is in the race for new reactors. Miliband said in a radio interview that the aim is to “work with local colleges to make sure that there are local skills providers, skills training opportunities, so local people get these jobs”.

The SMRs will be built in a modular format in factories before being shipped to site to be assembled. However, several challenges remain, including getting regulatory approval, building the SMR factories, and training the workforce to operate the sites. Rolls-Royce will build on its experience developing reactors for Britain’s nuclear submarines to develop the SMRs. Since promoting its SMR business, the British firm has attracted several investors, including the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund – the Qatar Investment Authority, the American utility Constellation, and CEZ, the Czech Republic’s power company.

While the new project offers high hopes for the development of the U.K.’s nuclear energy industry, U.S. President Trump is less than happy with Prime Minister Starmer’s selection of Rolls-Royce for the job. The U.S. was reportedly hoping that the U.K. government would choose American Westinghouse Electric Company to develop a conventional nuclear plant at Wylfa.

Before the Anglesey project was announced, the U.S. ambassador Warren Stephens published a statement saying that Britain should choose “a different path” in Wales. “We are extremely disappointed by this decision, not least because there are cheaper, faster and already-approved options to provide clean, safe energy at this same location,” Stephens stated. The ambassador’s response follows the signing of a nuclear partnership between the U.K. and the U.S. in September, with a potential value of $100 billion.

However, a source close to the U.K. government said, “This is the right choice for Britain. This is our flagship SMR programme, producing homegrown clean power with a British company, and we have chosen the best site for it.”

Nevertheless, the U.K. government said that developing SMRs at Wylfa “doesn’t close the door” to a U.S. manufacturer working on a future project. GBE-N is also assessing different sites in the U.K. for the potential development of another large-scale nuclear power plant, like Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell C in Suffolk, which are currently being developed and are expected to power around six million homes once complete.

Despite the agreement for greater cooperation between the U.K. and the U.S. on nuclear power, the U.K. government has chosen a British company to develop its first SMR project, showing its support for the development of domestic nuclear technologies. The project is expected to make the U.K. highly competitive in the field of SMR reactor development over the coming decade, as well as diversify the country’s nuclear power industry. 

South Africa is back in the news yet again, and facing embarrassment yet again.  South Africa’s far-left government was hoping that the G20 Summit held this week in Johannesburg would elevate the country’s global position and garner them international attention (and funding).  It is the first time in history that the G20 has been held in South Africa.    

However, the Trump Administration has made it clear that the South African event is a nothing-burger and the real G20 will be held in the US (in Florida) in 2026.  The meeting was not only snubbed by Trump; China, Russia, Argentina, Mexico and Indonesia did not send representatives either, likely because the summit had no momentum without US participation. 

Confusion arose when SA President Cyril Ramaphosa spread rumors that the US was actually participating in the talks, leading the media to suggest Trump had flip-flopped. 

When asked about the alleged shift, Press Secretary Karoline Levit accused Ramaphosa of ‘running his mouth’ about the US and spreading misinformation.  No such change had occurred and the US did not attend the talks.  This is yet another example of Ramaphosa making claims which end up being easily debunked.

A primary contention over the event was the highlighting of the global warming and carbon taxation agenda, which Trump has repeatedly called out as a fraud.  For countries like South Africa, however, the climate change issue has the potential to become highly lucrative.

The UN, the WEF and many other globalist institutions have called for carbon taxation as a form of wealth redistribution from wealthy nations to third world nations.  Carbon taxes are sometimes referred to as “climate reparations” that could greatly enrich countries with less substantial industry (carbon footprint).  The carbon scheme is in fact nothing more than another cash grab by global elites, using the “plight” of the third world and unfounded fears of climate oblivion as justifications for centralized carbon taxation and worldwide socialism.

South Africa is facing deepening economic decline, with a 32% unemployment rate and imploding infrastructure (due to lack of proper maintenance over the span of decades), the country was already in dire straits when Trump entered office. 

Trump made South Africa’s anti-white policies (145 race based laws that undermine the rights of white citizens) and land confiscation laws international news. He then crushed President Cyril Ramaphosa on live TV with videos of communist political groups calling for the mass murder of white farmers (Boers) after Ramaphosa denied such a problem existed. 

The end of the insidious USAID organization and cuts to foreign funding have further eroded SA’s economy.  Now, their first ever G20 event is opening with a whimper of empty resolutions and missing world leaders. 

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

Many observers were surprised after Kazakhstan joined the Abraham Accords during President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s trip to DC to attend the latest C5+1 Summit since it’s already recognized Israel since 1992.

The Presidential and Foreign Ministry websites shed more light on this decision.

The first wrote that “By joining the Abraham Accords, Kazakhstan seeks to contribute to overcoming confrontation, promoting dialogue, and supporting international law based on the principles of the UN Charter.”

It added that “The decision of Kazakhstan does not affect the country’s bilateral commitments with any state and represents a natural continuation and manifestation of its multilateral diplomacy aimed at promoting peace and security.”

The second echoed this message: “This important decision was made solely in the interests of Kazakhstan and is fully consistent with the nature of republic’s balanced, constructive, and peaceful foreign policy.”

Their statement then concluded as follows: “Joining the Abraham Accords will contribute to strengthening our country’s cooperation with all interested states and, therefore, is fully in line with Kazakhstan’s strategic goals. Kazakhstan will continue to firmly advocate for a just, comprehensive, and sustainable settlement of the Middle East conflict based on international law, relevant UN resolutions, and the principle of ‘two states for two peoples.’”

Accordingly, the official explanation is that this purely symbolic move was meant to signal support for a “two-state solution” and bolster Kazakhstan’s multi-alignment policy, but there’s actually more to it. This was indisputably intended to appeal to Trump, thus raising Tokayev’s profile in his eyes, and coincided with the raft of deals that they agreed to. This importantly includes a MoU on critical minerals that was assessed here as putting pressure, unintended by Kazakhstan but deliberate by the US, on Russia.

The above preceded Tokayev’s trip to Moscow to meet with Putin, the purpose of which was to reassure Russia that Kazakhstan isn’t siding with the US against it, but it’s now clear that Kazakhstan is more actively relying on the US for balancing Russia. It’s this trend, which isn’t new but is now taking on a qualitatively different form due to how the new TRIPP Corridor is expected to intensify US-Kazakh ties and Tokayev doing a personal favor for Trump by joining the Abraham Accords, that’s most newsworthy.

It was earlier warned that “The West Is Posing New Challenges To Russia Along Its Entire Southern Periphery”, which Russia is aware of as proven by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent remarks to this effect, and that “A US Think Tank Considers Kazakhstan To Be A Key Player For Containing Russia”. Nevertheless, Kazakhstan is still a member of the Russian-led CSTO military bloc and the EAEU economic one, but it’s understandable if Putin might soon begin to wonder about Tokayev’s long-term intentions.

Azerbaijan just announced that its armed forces now conform with NATO standards, and if Kazakhstan one day tries to follow suit, then Russia’s threat assessment would spike. Tokayev hasn’t signaled any such plans, but by doing a personal favor for Trump by joining the Abraham Accords, he likely expects him and the US to have his back if he ever decides to do so and this leads to a crisis with Russia. Therein lies the real significance of what he just did, which lends credence to concerns about his intentions.