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US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

bbc.com

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Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#451

Post by dragonwriter »

bluecalm wrote: post #291
TwoNineA wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last year we cancelled a planned US vacation, this year we didn't even think about it. Going back to Europe two years in a row. I don't give a fuck about tariff policy of our supposed "friends" but when our "friend" repeatedly threatens our independence and sovereignty, no thanks. Not going to step into the USA for a long time.

For me it's not about politics at all. Just the thought of going through TSA and immigration is enough to discourage me, especially when I can hop on a plane to Spain, Italy or Cyprus and face 0 inconveniences along the way.

> For me it's not about politics at all. Just the thought of going through TSA and immigration is enough to discourage me

The conditions of TSA and the immigration system are...not independent of politics (or even independent of the top tier of most divisive partisan political issues in the current American context.)

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#452

Post by XorNot »

cgh wrote: post #141
TwoNineA wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last year we cancelled a planned US vacation, this year we didn't even think about it. Going back to Europe two years in a row. I don't give a fuck about tariff policy of our supposed "friends" but when our "friend" repeatedly threatens our independence and sovereignty, no thanks. Not going to step into the USA for a long time.

Same. We had two month-long trips planned and canceled them both. I realize California is not exactly “enemy territory” or whatever but we’ll spend our money elsewhere.

I mean you say that, but as someone with family in California the issue isn't the general citizenry it's that ICE and border people aren't general citizenry.

If the system decides to screw you over, that your average Cali resident disapproves doesn't stop you being in a holding cell for weeks.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#453

Post by Rexxar »

throw310822 wrote: post #434
Rexxar wrote: post #419

Here is the official source: https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/economicdata/empsit_03062026.pd... Some of the main categories (page 8 of the pdf): - Construction: -11.0k - Manufacturing: -12.0k - Transportation and warehousing: -11.3k - Private education and health services: -34.0k - Information -11.0k - Leisure and hospitality -27.0k It seems to go down in lots of different sectors.

Pretty useless without knowing at least what % of the total they are per category and what type of jobs they are.

I saw a lot of comments trying to guess where the job were lost in other comments and I think this give a little more context. I put the original source, there are 42 pages of data, if you want more details.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#454

Post by hparadiz »

01100011 wrote: post #395
root_axis wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea doesn't really make sense to me. We know LLMs increase productivity, especially for coding, but increasing productivity shouldn't make you fire people unless your business has already exhausted any potential for growth. Instead we would expect the increased productivity to grow businesses further and increase hiring for all other tasks that LLMs are still not good at.

AI is killing the notion that SW companies are infinite money printing machines. The idea is that someday soon(in the next 5-10 years as markets are forward looking), someone will vibe-code a replacement for Photoshop/TurboTax/Office and if nothing else that will kill the profit margins. This changes the entire economics of SW and affects current hiring and spending.

Quite the opposite. I just spent the past month "vibe coding" a pretty serious program in C. The tldr is yea I can build faster but I'm still sitting there testing, debugging, and focusing on specific features as I go and that's still a human limitation. The AI productivity is pivoted directly into higher complexity of features. It's not a magic wand that immediately builds a program that works perfectly out of the box. The zeitgeist just hasn't caught up to the reality of that.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#455

Post by yonaguska »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #431
Rexxar wrote: post #419

Here is the official source: https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/economicdata/empsit_03062026.pd... Some of the main categories (page 8 of the pdf): - Construction: -11.0k - Manufacturing: -12.0k - Transportation and warehousing: -11.3k - Private education and health services: -34.0k - Information -11.0k - Leisure and hospitality -27.0k It seems to go down in lots of different sectors.

Healthcare was carrying the economy. Any commentary on why that’s failing?

My personal take is that it's just hit a breaking point where people have finally decided that it's not worth the money. Im not the only person I know with an uninsured wife, and only coverage for my kids. If it weren't for my kids, I wouldn't have enrolled in insurance either. The math just doesn't work out for someone relatively young and with no major health issues. And with the government cutting back spending, which you can see that hitting big insurers like UNH directly, the market is getting a little tighter.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#456

Post by larkost »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #431
Rexxar wrote: post #419

Here is the official source: https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/economicdata/empsit_03062026.pd... Some of the main categories (page 8 of the pdf): - Construction: -11.0k - Manufacturing: -12.0k - Transportation and warehousing: -11.3k - Private education and health services: -34.0k - Information -11.0k - Leisure and hospitality -27.0k It seems to go down in lots of different sectors.

Healthcare was carrying the economy. Any commentary on why that’s failing?

I can't find a reference for this, but listening to NPR this morning there was an offhand mention that last month there were significant strikes going on, and that those are now resolved, but showed up in the employment numbers for last month.

So that part could just be a blip. The rest seems on-trend.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#457

Post by michelsedgh »

veryemartguy wrote: post #386
michelsedgh wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ive never been to bluesky but it really gives me bluesky vibes every time i come to HN these days

[flagged]

instead of cursing and attacking, you can have actual discussions. most of the comments in this thread are hating towards trump and his policies without actually discussing any of the policies. Maybe you can't even read the comments. Just blank statements and making fun of trump and his policies. If u have any counters to them u will get flagged and downvoted to hell. Just like your comment, HN has gone from an actual intellectual discussions, to Bluesky style hatred and making fun. Good job proving my point.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#458

Post by justin66 »

irishcoffee wrote: post #308
Aurornis wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US tourism declined in 2025 but the number has been relatively flat since then. These recent job losses are probably not attributable to tourism since that’s unchanged year over year. I’m not saying tourism is not a factor or denying anecdotes about people not visiting the US, but I don’t think it’s the explanation for the February 2026 job losses.

> I’m not saying tourism is not a factor or denying anecdotes about people not visiting the US, but I don’t think it’s the explanation for the February 2026 job losses. This is accurate. This thread is people emoting. I get it, might as well let it out. Tourism being major part of the US GDP feels like countries whose GDP depends on tourism, projecting. I get that too, if that is the paradigm you live in every day, t…

GDP being affected negatively by reductions in tourism, with the loss being offset by increased business for Raytheon as well as the human centipede-like economics of big tech companies buying stuff from other big tech companies, sounds about right.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#459

Post by JumpCrisscross »

dehrmann wrote: post #443
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Healthcare was carrying the economy. Any commentary on why that’s failing?

There was a strike. That particular number is probably worth ignoring.

Ah, this makes sense [1].

[1] https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hr/31000-kaiser-worker...

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#460

Post by srean »

nerdsniper wrote: post #254
CalRobert wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would an iphone in lockdown mode have any resistance to this?

The latest iPhone model in lockdown mode would be super resistant. Lockdown mode is specifically engineered to protect against Cellebrite / Pegasus-level threats. However, if you’re a noncitizen you might be refused entry, and if you are a citizen you might never see that phone again. The phone will be stored for years until/if Cellebrite finds a vulnerability in that iPhone model, and then it will be searched. Also…

Very interesting. Are there any technical hindrances that prevent Android being the same ?
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