The Crunch: shrinking cereal, solar eclipses and too many planes

Welcome to the 11th edition of The Crunch!

In this week’s newsletter we’ve got millennials doing it tougher than previous generations, an “explosion” in school absenteeism in the US, how a small Indian airport handled the dozens of private planes that arrived for a billionaire’s pre-wedding event and more.

But first, shrinking cereal boxes …

Brands are obfuscating price hikes by changing the amount you get for your dollar – improving profit margins and confusing consumers.

This is “shrinkflation”, where the amount in a package changes without a corresponding price reduction. In fact, in many cases, the price can increase as well.

Using data from Deakin University we explore how shrinkflation is changing the cost per 100g of cereal, resulting in consumers paying more for less.

Four charts from the week

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1. How millennials got ripped off

Millennials aged 30 to 34 are the first cohort in more than 47 years where the majority don’t own a house. The ABC’s Mridula Amin and Alex Lim have woven together photography, data and case studies in this deep dive that explores housing, healthcare, education, retirement and tax; how we got here and what it means.

If this piqued your interest, our Guardian Australia colleagues recently wrapped up a podcast series that touches on similar themes called Who Screwed Millennials?

We also took a look at how societal changes like these might be changing political outcomes.

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2. Are the kids alright?

Data shows 26% of US public school students were “chronically absent” from school last year – defined as missing about 18 days of schooling, for any reason. It cuts across districts, income levels and race, according to this New York Times story.

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3. Even more gaming layoffs

Thousands in the video game industry have lost their jobs over the past couple of years, and the rate only seems to be increasing. Designer Ben Oldenburg made this tracker of industry layoffs using updating data from Farhan Noor.

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4. The plane(s), the plane(s)!

Last month saw a spectacular pre-wedding celebration for the son of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani. Held in the family’s ancestral home town Jamnagar, the event drew royalty, business leaders and celebrities from around the world.

Jamnagar Airport normally only averages around five arrivals a day – so how did it handle the influx of private planes? Vijdan Mohammad Kawoosa from Reuters has a great visual story to illustrate.

Spotlight on … the climate crisis (again)

• The slow pace of climate action around the world can be a bit disheartening. But a study across more than 60 countries suggests it isn’t due to a lack of support. Large majorities in every country studied “believe” climate breakdown is happening, and the same goes with support for climate policies.

• The world saw unprecedented temperatures last year and the Climate Brink has a wrap up of graphics showing exactly how extreme it was.

• Our World in Data has also recently updated their data on monthly temperature anomalies across the world.

Off the planet charts

Parts of the world will experience a rare total solar eclipse next week – it’s going to be some time before we get another one in Australia. Lesley Huang and Vivien Ngo from the San Antonio Express News have created a beautifully illustrated guide for what a total solar eclipse is, how and why they are becoming rarer.

It also includes an interactive so you can see when and where they are expected in the future:

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