Live data from Hacker News

U.S. added 911k fewer jobs in year through March than reported earlier

barrons.com

61–70 of 514 posts

Re: U.S. added 911k fewer jobs in year through March than reported earlier

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't think he's to blame?

The report covers the time period between April 2024 and March 2025. It seems illogical to me to put the blame entirely on one administration.

Usually I'd be with you. It's a big ship and even presidents have limited power to steer. But he is really doing all he can to sink it, so while one cannot blame him entirely, one can blame him:

- Firing a lot of federal employees

- Creating an uncertain business environment where no planning is possible via tariffs

That's just what he is breaking short term. There will be no way to reverse the long term damage his policies do.

I'm not arguing about goals, just looking at the execution.

Re: U.S. added 911k fewer jobs in year through March than reported earlier

#62
Austerity has repeatably been shown to kill economic growth and trigger recessions/depressions. Yet for whatever reason there is one party in congress who's entire economic policy is basically austerity measures. Repeatedly, the ax man comes in and cuts spending that generates multiples of economic activity in return. This happens all the time cut a $1 here and it costs $4 over there kinds of things. Infrastructure is frequently in this category, delay maintenance until it can't be repaired, or simply fail to invest until a road/bridge is gridlock 18 hours a day, or the train is to scary to ride. The current admin is doing this 10x because they aren't being smart about what they cut, just doing it for political points.

Is there government waste? Sure, but that requires micro tweaks, aka instead of hiring more TSA agents maybe decide they shouldn't be randomly selecting every 3rd precheck user for additional screening/etc, or maybe decide that investing in even slower scanners isn't the right choice. Plus, in TX having seen some of these contracts the city/state gives out, the idea that private industry is more efficient is laughable. In some cases they are basically contracting out for millions of dollars a year a job that could be handled by one or two actual government employees paid less than $100k a year.

Re: U.S. added 911k fewer jobs in year through March than reported earlier

#64
post #53

If unemployment continues to rise, and the one-time impact on prices of tariffs leads to self-reinforcing high inflation, we'll have stagflation : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagflation I sure hope not , because stagflation would be extremely unpleasant for everyone. Central banks like the Federal Reserve would be forced to raise interest rates, to put stress on businesses and consumers, so businesses find themsel…

I heard Volcker speak once, you could still see him remembering how hated he was for those years of the Volcker Shock on his face. Strained and a little sad.

Re: U.S. added 911k fewer jobs in year through March than reported earlier

#65
post #53

If unemployment continues to rise, and the one-time impact on prices of tariffs leads to self-reinforcing high inflation, we'll have stagflation : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagflation I sure hope not , because stagflation would be extremely unpleasant for everyone. Central banks like the Federal Reserve would be forced to raise interest rates, to put stress on businesses and consumers, so businesses find themsel…

This post is right about some things, including the general solution to staglation, and wrong about others. Paul Volker was Fed Chair between 1979 and 1987, not 1973. The 1973 crash and recession were not caused by his actions, if you had to pick a single cause, I think Opec would be it.

Re: U.S. added 911k fewer jobs in year through March than reported earlier

#66
post #58
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did these people think he would actually lower prices? And that “lowering inflation “ means prices go back down?

Yes

Snark aside, I really wonder how we as a nation can get to better politics and policy when so many people are so misinformed about the basics. It seems hopeless at times.

Re: U.S. added 911k fewer jobs in year through March than reported earlier

#67

Q: Hasn't the US monthly jobs figure frequently been revised downwards over recent years, regardless of which administration was in charge? (edit - see for instance Aug 2024: https://seekingalpha.com/news/4142722-why-was-there-such-a-b... )

Chart with more historical revision context: https://www.statista.com/chart/34931/difference-between-prel...

Re: U.S. added 911k fewer jobs in year through March than reported earlier

#68
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One can argue that we're only seeing the beginning of the destruction. The economic policies of this administration could take years to be fully realized. That also means that, unfortunately, it will take years to repair the damage.

I don't think the trust in the US can be repaired for a very long time.

Yup. Even if Americans vote out the current administration, there’s no guarantee they won’t vote in another administration like this again. They’ve already done it twice.

Re: U.S. added 911k fewer jobs in year through March than reported earlier

#69

[flagged]

These are numbers from March 2024 to March 2025, right? The current administration was present for 3 of those 12 months. I think the forces that move the whole US and world economy don’t really change between administrations.

The problem is that we went from attempting to navigate the global forces to actively making things worse.

Re: U.S. added 911k fewer jobs in year through March than reported earlier

#70

Q: Hasn't the US monthly jobs figure frequently been revised downwards over recent years, regardless of which administration was in charge? (edit - see for instance Aug 2024: https://seekingalpha.com/news/4142722-why-was-there-such-a-b... )

It's not without precedent, but the fact that initial job numbers have been consistently inflated over the last 3 years and that the magnitude of the downwards revisions is on par with 2008-2009 for two years in a row (and growing) is concerning.
Post reply on HN