U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal • Hacker News Board

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#31

Post by mapontosevenths » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 1:57 PM UTC

Jeremy1026 wrote: post #30

1over137 wrote: post #28

Meanwhile Canada added 75,000 new jobs in July. Perhaps Trump's tariff scheme is not working so well after all. https://www.cbc.ca/lite/story/9.7299225

No one with at least two brain cells to rub together thought the tariffs was going to make anything better.

I suspect that even his proponents knew better, they just didn't care as much about the economy as they did culture wars nonsense and religious woo-woo.

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#32

Post by hobofan » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 1:57 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #5

Note, also: > In yet another troubling sign for the labor market, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that it revised down the prior two months by a combined 103,000. May’s jobs total was cut by 66,000 to 129,000 total jobs added, while June’s total was lowered by 37,000 to a total gain of 57,000.

I'm not an expert at quantifying the magnitude of how bad that is, but revision down is not something "exceptional". The numbers have been revised down consistently since ~2022: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/business/economy/economy-...

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#33

Post by shin_lao » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 1:58 PM UTC

1over137 wrote: post #28

Meanwhile Canada added 75,000 new jobs in July. Perhaps Trump's tariff scheme is not working so well after all. https://www.cbc.ca/lite/story/9.7299225

[flagged]

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#34

Post by catigula » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 1:58 PM UTC

The great reversal is happening. It was about time to quell the bubble-sayers.

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#35

Post by ethagnawl » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 1:59 PM UTC

And, as a result, the market is ... up?

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#36

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 2:00 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#37

Post by mapontosevenths » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 2:00 PM UTC

ethagnawl wrote: post #35

And, as a result, the market is ... up?

I wonder if this is the evidence of the labor market decoupling from "the economy" in terms of economic productivity?

Folks keep predicting it. Maybe it's starting?

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#38

Post by HarHarVeryFunny » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 2:01 PM UTC

These jobs lost/gained and unemployment statistics, especially on a monthly basis, and when the numbers are so small, are just noise. Seasonal adjustments alone (baseline assumptions on how many people should be employed) make them meaningless, as does the government definition of being unemployed or looking for work.

As far as the government is concerned if you have been looking for a job for so long and/or are so discouraged that you stop looking, then you are no longer "unemployed" since you are not looking for a job.

If you are software engineer who has not been able find a software job, and are now flipping burgers to at least have some income, then you have also dropped off the government stats since you now have a job.

And then you have the current president's habit of just lying about everything, and threatening anyone who doesn't support his lies, and it seems we have truly entered a post-truth world where "alternate facts" rule the day.

When you read headlines of companies laying off thousands of employees, that's real. When the government says they've retroactively adjusted their seasonally adjusted fake news, then not so much.

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#39

Post by izend » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 2:01 PM UTC

1over137 wrote: post #28

Meanwhile Canada added 75,000 new jobs in July. Perhaps Trump's tariff scheme is not working so well after all. https://www.cbc.ca/lite/story/9.7299225

I have been very critical of the Federal gov (less so under Carney) and I will admit this job report actually was very good as it wasn't just majority public sector hirings which was very common under Trudeau:

Private-sector jobs: +58,000 jobs [wealthprof...ssional.ca], [retail-insider.com]

Government/public-sector jobs:-27,000 jobs (a decline) [wealthprof...ssional.ca], [retail-insider.com]

Self-employed: +44,000 jobs [wealthprof...ssional.ca], [retail-insider.com]

Part-time jobs: +36,600 jobs [money.usnews.com], [ca.finance.yahoo.com]

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#40

Post by MSFT_Edging » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 2:02 PM UTC

mapontosevenths wrote: post #37

ethagnawl wrote: post #35

And, as a result, the market is ... up?

I wonder if this is the evidence of the labor market decoupling from "the economy" in terms of economic productivity? Folks keep predicting it. Maybe it's starting?

Maybe we can finally reach communism by first getting together and all agreeing "the economy" isn't a science and if we all just believe really hard, numbers can go up forever, then we won't even need money!