Obsession, the most fun job in China, and a new green card policy
The Indicator from Planet Money
NPR
4.7 • 9.5K Ratings
🗓️ 29 May 2026
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On today’s episode: China’s baaaaad job market has led to an interest in becoming a shepherd, a young YouTuber strikes Hollywood gold, and the Trump administration's new green card policy is telling immigrants to 'go home.'
Fact checking by Vito Emanuel.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | NPR. |
| 0:02.0 | This is the indicator from Planet Money. |
| 0:13.7 | I'm Waylon Wong. |
| 0:14.8 | I'm Darren Woods. |
| 0:15.7 | And I'm Adrienne Ma. |
| 0:16.7 | Guys, if you could have one wish, what would it be? |
| 0:20.3 | I would wish that it were Friday. |
| 0:23.1 | That way, we could do indicators of the week. |
| 0:26.0 | Well, you're in luck. |
| 0:27.8 | Wish granted because it is indeed indicators of the week. |
| 0:33.4 | Of the week. |
| 0:35.0 | Yes, it is that day where we pluck out the most interesting numbers from the economic headlines. |
| 0:39.3 | I wish it could be indicators of the week every day. |
| 0:42.3 | No, dearie, and be careful what you wish for. |
| 0:44.3 | That's a theme of my indicator. |
| 0:46.3 | And also on the show, we'll be talking about the Trump administration's new green card policy. |
| 0:51.3 | Plus, in China, there is a lot of interest for some jobs herding sheep. We'll be back. |
| 1:02.2 | It is Indicators of the Week. Darien, you're up first. My indicator is 700. That's roughly how many |
| 1:09.1 | people applied for two shepherd positions in rural China. Some of them even had university degrees, as according to Reuters. |
| 1:18.0 | Is this like a recession indicator in China? It's hard to tell. You know, the official unemployment rate is 5.2% there. |
| 1:25.7 | Which is not a recession, it sounds like. |
| 1:28.4 | But, you know, Chinese statistics are notoriously hard to trust. |
... |
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