A school cellphone ban study, white collar jobs wither, and spooky candy prices

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Indicator from Planet Money

Episode: A school cellphone ban study, white collar jobs wither, and spooky candy prices
Date: October 31, 2025
Hosts: Adrian Ma, Waylon Wong, Darian Woods

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Main Theme

In this bite-sized Halloween episode, the Indicator team brings together three economic headlines as “Indicators of the Week.” The hosts discuss Amazon’s AI-driven layoffs, a study on the impact of school cellphone bans, and the chilling rise in Halloween candy prices. With their signature mix of wit and insightful analysis, they unpack how technology, education, and inflation are shaping the economic landscape.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. White Collar Layoffs and the Rise of AI ([02:31]–[05:01])

• Indicator: 14,000 – the number of Amazon corporate jobs to be cut, in part due to AI.
• Context: Amazon, along with other major companies, is letting go of thousands of employees, specifically citing artificial intelligence as a driver for increased efficiency and innovation.
• Notable Trends:
  • Similar moves seen at Salesforce, Accenture, Goldman Sachs.
  • Walmart’s CEO announced a hiring freeze as AI gets further integrated.
• Actual Impact:
  • Early research from the St. Louis Fed suggests initial evidence of AI-driven job displacement, particularly among knowledge workers.
  • The long-term impact of AI may create new jobs or even reverse current trends if companies over-invest.
• Memorable Exchange:
  • Waylon Wong: “If I were a laid off worker or I was worried about losing my job, this would not do anything for me...” ([03:28])
  • Adrian Ma: “You mean being told that you’re one of too many layers doesn’t really give you any comfort?” ([03:37])
• Quote from Amazon’s Beth Galetti ([03:04]):

  “[T]he world is changing quickly. This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we've seen since the Internet and it's enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before. We are convinced that we need to be organized more leanly with fewer layers and more ownership.”

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2. School Cellphone Bans and Student Performance ([05:05]–[07:40])

• Indicator: 1.1 percentile – the average national boost in spring test scores for schools enforcing cellphone bans.
• Study Details:
  • Based on Florida’s 2023 statewide school cellphone ban (the first in the U.S.).
  • Researchers used private cell tower pinging data to measure reductions in actual phone use, comparing schools with high and low changes in device usage.
  • Compared academic performance before and after the ban.
• Findings:
  • Modest but measurable increase in student test scores.
  • Greater suspensions in the first year as students adjusted (often for breaking phone rules), but this effect faded, leaving only positive trends: better attendance and continued higher grades.
• Memorable Moments:
  • Darian Woods: “Schools that saw dramatic reductions in cell phone use also had big rises in suspensions the year after the ban.” ([07:03])
  • Waylon Wong: “Cause like they were punishing kids for trying to sneak their phones out.” ([07:12])
• Nuance:
  • While the ban helped academically, disciplinary side effects were significant in the short term.

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3. The Spooky Surge in Halloween Candy Prices ([07:40]–[09:47])

• Indicator: 10.8% – the average increase in Halloween candy prices year over year.
• Details:
  • Staples like Tootsie Roll pops rose 34%; Mars candy (M&Ms, Skittles, etc.) up 12%.
  • Attributed largely to tariffs on cocoa products (15–39%), with cocoa supply coming mainly from West Africa and processing in Europe.
  • The increase far outpaces the overall rate of inflation.
• Personal Anecdote:
  • Waylon bought a 5.6 lb candy variety pack from Costco for $23.99.
  • Noticed “shrinkflation”—the bag had fewer pieces (165 this year, versus 169 last year) for the same price, as backed by a YouTube review.
• Memorable Exchange:
  • Adrian Ma: “You know how there’s like, usually a house in the neighborhood that gives out toothbrushes and pennies? Maybe there’ll be more of those this year.” ([08:40])
  • Waylon Wong: “Not at my house, though. I’m holding the line.” ([08:49])
  • Waylon Wong: “Shrinkflation strikes again.” ([09:32])

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Notable Quotes & Moments (With Timestamps)

• Adrian Ma ([02:34]): “My indicator is about Amazon...the number is 14,000, which is the number of corporate jobs Amazon says it'll soon be cutting. And one of the explicit reasons...is AI.”
• Waylon Wong ([03:28]): “If I were a laid off worker or I was worried about losing my job, this would not do anything for me, I have to say.”
• Beth Galetti, Amazon (quoted by Adrian, [03:04]):

  “This generation of AI is the most transformative technology...We are convinced that we need to be organized more leanly with fewer layers and more ownership.”

• Darian Woods ([05:05]): “My indicator is 1.1 percentile. That's the boost to grades that schools can get from banning cell phones.”
• Darian Woods ([07:03]): “Schools that saw dramatic reductions in cell phone use also had big rises in suspensions the year after the ban.”
• Waylon Wong ([07:47]): “My indicator is 10.8%. That is the average increase in the price of Halloween candy from last year to this year.”
• Waylon Wong ([09:32]): “Shrinkflation strikes again.”

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Segment Timestamps for Reference

• [02:31] – Introduction to Indicators of the Week
• [02:34]–[05:01] – Amazon layoffs and the rise of AI
• [05:05]–[07:40] – School cellphone bans and student performance
• [07:47]–[09:47] – Halloween candy price increases and shrinkflation

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Tone and Style

The hosts maintain a witty, slightly irreverent, and conversational tone throughout, sprinkling humor (“spider-covered indicators,” “spookflation”) and relatable anecdotes into the analysis of data and headlines. Their approach makes complex economic issues accessible and engaging for listeners of all backgrounds.

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Conclusion

This Halloween episode masterfully balances economic insight with seasonal fun. From fears of AI-driven layoffs, cautious optimism (and concern) about school cellphone bans, to the daunting rise in candy costs, the hosts serve up timely economic indicators infused with personality, humor, and pragmatic concern.

If you missed the episode: expect a brisk, lively rundown of the week’s economic spooks—and a reminder to check your treat bags for shrinkflation.

Transcript

[A]

Npr. This is the indicator for Planet Money. Happy Halloween. By the way, I'm your spooky host, Adrian Ma, here with the witchy Waylon Wong.

[B]

That's the witch music from wizard of Oz and your little dog too.

[A]

And we are joined by the dreadful Darian Woods.

[C]

Happy Halloween to you too.

[A]

We are here not to scare or to freak you out. Let's leave that to your, you know, everyday lives. We're here to bring you some indicators. Indicators of the week.

[B]

Yes, it is. That show where we take interesting economic headlines from the week and we bring them to you.

[C]

It's the same indicators, but this time covered in spiders.

[B]

I actually am looking at a big spider right now in my studio.

[C]

Very uncomfortable.

[B]

I'm hoping it doesn't come any closer.

[A]

On today's show, we have got the.

[C]

Evidence comes in on cell phone bans.

[A]

In schools, white collar workers getting the.

[B]

Axe, and the spookiest indicator of all, higher Halloween chocolate prices. This.

[C]

Terrifying.

[A]

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[D]

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[E]

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[C]

Indicators of the Week Adrian Ma, you start us off.

[A]

My indicator is about Amazon. And obligatory disclaimer here. Amazon is a financial supporter of NPR and pays to distribute some NPR content. So the number is 14,000, which is the number of corporate jobs Amazon says it'll soon be cutting. And one of the explicit reasons for trimming about 4% of its workforce is AI.

[C]

So is the AI apocalypse here?

[A]

Well, that's not quite the way that Amazon puts it.

[B]

Oh, they didn't say apocalypse in their statement.

[A]

So in a statement to Amazon employees, a senior vice president named Beth Galetti said, quote, the the world is changing quickly. This generation of AI is the most transformative technology We've seen since the Internet and it's enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before. We are convinced that we need to be organized more leanly with fewer layers and more ownership, unquote.

[B]

If I were a laid off worker or I was worried about losing my job, this would not do anything for me, I have to say.

[A]

You mean being told that you're one of too many layers doesn't really give you any company for it?

[B]

Or like, oh, AI's allowing us to innovate so much faster. It's like great, so I'm not gonna have a job right before Thanksgiving, you know what I mean?

[A]

Right. Well, you know what Amazon is saying here, it actually reflects a wider pattern of what we're seeing from a lot of America's biggest companies. In recent weeks and months we have seen companies like Salesforce, Accenture and, and Goldman Sachs all announced thousands in layoffs and at the same time talking pretty optimistically about AI's potential to basically make up the difference. And a few weeks ago the CEO of Walmart said it plans to freeze hiring for the next few years while it gets AI more integrated into its workforce.

[C]

Okay, so these are generating headlines, but what do the numbers say? Like are these really making a difference in the wider workforce?

[A]

There is a kind of interesting data point I saw from the St. Louis Fed. Some economists there did some research which suggests we might be in the early stages of AI driven job displacement which is especially hitting knowledge workers. At the same time they say, you know, it's still early days and the picture still could change. Like who knows, maybe in the long run AI could actually create jobs or.

[B]

Maybe companies will realize that they over invested in AI and then they actually need the humans back.

[A]

That's my indicator of the week. Who wants to go next?

[C]

Alright, so I'll go next. My indicator is 1.1 percentile. That's the boost to grades that schools can get from banning cell phones. In other words, when school kids take the big spring test at the end of the school year, they can boost their placement nationally from say the 50th percentile to being a little over the 51st percentile on average.

[A]

So taking these pocket sized distraction machines away from kids during the day helps them do better in. I am shocked. Shocked I say.

[C]

So it's not the largest effect overall, but it's from a working paper where the authors say the real effect might be higher. But this is the amount that they calculate hand on hard is due to cell phone bans. The authors did a really diligent job. Looking at Florida's ban on cell phones in schools. In 2023, Florida had the country's first statewide ban on cell phones in school.

[A]

Wait, when you say they did a diligent job, what do you mean by that?

[C]

Yeah. So in science, you want a control group, you'd ideally randomly ban cell phones from some schools, but not others and see what the effect was. Now that didn't happen. So the researchers had to be creative about what the control group was. They got data from a private company that tracks cell phones pinging cell phone towers, and they compared schools where the ban had a large effect on cell phone usage to schools with a low effect on cell. Students there weren't using phones much to begin with. These schools without much changes in cell phone use. This was kind of the control group. And then the authors basically looked at the grades of how the schools that were reducing cell phone usage a lot compared to how they did previously.

[B]

Hmm. And then they found kind of this moderately happy ending. Right. Slightly better grades. And that means that maybe these kids will be more productive in the future, less addicted to their phones.

[C]

Yes, a happy ending. But I've left out an important point.

[B]

Uh. Oh.

[C]

Schools that saw dramatic reductions in cell phone use also had big rises in suspensions the year after the ban.

[E]

Oh.

[B]

Cause like they were punishing kids for trying to sneak their phones out.

[C]

That is the implication, yeah. The schools with higher cell phone reductions also saw higher suspensions, though that seemed to settle back to normal after the first year, leaving only good trends, better attendance and higher grades.

[A]

I thought the suspensions were because of kids going through like cell phone withdrawal and just being super irritable.

[C]

That could be part of it too.

[B]

Acting out.

[C]

Well, speaking of children of the neighborhood getting up to no good, what's your indicator?

[B]

My indicator is 10.8%. That is the average increase in the price of Halloween candy from last year to this year.

[C]

That's spookflation.

[A]

That's a pretty good hike.

[B]

Ye, yes. It's way over the baseline inflation rate. And this number crunching comes courtesy of the Groundwork Collaborative and the Century foundation, which are left leaning think tanks. They analyze the prices of candy staples so that stuff like Tootsie Roll pops are up 34% from last year. Candy made by Mars. So that's M and M Skittles, some other brands, that's up 12%. And the century foundation blames these higher prices on tariffs. It says that most products made with cocoa got hit with tariffs between 15 and 39%. And that's because the majority of cocoa beans come from West Africa and a lot of the processing is in Europe.

[A]

You know how there's like, usually a house in the neighborhood that gives out toothbrushes and pennies? Like, maybe there'll be more of those this year.

[B]

Not at my house, though. I'm holding the line. Let's see what I got this year. Look at this. Look at this.

[E]

Look.

[B]

It's bigger than my head. Yeah, I got three of these at Costco. It's a 5.6 pound variety pack and it's got Snickers, Butterfingers, KitKats. It's like a pretty good assortment. And yeah, we got a ton of trick or treaters every year. So I got a little neurotic about having enough.

[C]

Did you end up spending more?

[B]

Okay, So I paid $23.99 for this bag. And I don't remember how much the Costco pack cost last year, but I found a YouTube video of someone who's kept tabs on this variety pack. And I love YouTube. And they said that this year there were 165 pieces of candy in here compared with 169 last year. So even if the price stayed the same, this bag has less candy in it. And so that is shrinkflation. Shrinkflation strikes again.

[A]

Okay, but did you fact check this YouTube video?

[B]

You know what? I will open this bag and count the candy right now, live, if you want.

[A]

So I hope everybody has a happy and safe Halloween. And before we go, just to let listeners know, I'm gonna be taking some time off from the show. So you might not hear me very much for the next few months. But stepping in to help out here will be friend of the show, Stephen Bassaha of the Gulf States Newsroom. So look forward to hearing Stephen on the show. I'll see you before too long.

[C]

This episode was produced by Angel Carreras with engineering by Kou Takasuki Cernavin. It was fact checked by Corey Bridges and Julia Ritchie. Cagan Cannon edits the show and the indicator is a production of npr.

[E]

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[E]

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