US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February • Hacker News Board

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#481

Post by h2zizzle » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:31 PM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #476

yonaguska wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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, w…

> The math just doesn't work out for someone relatively young and with no major health issues. The thing is, bad and expensive health issues can literally come upon you over night. You can get hit by a vehicle or get beaten up with no perpetrator to be held accountable, you can develop an aneurysm, get food poisoning, get pregnant unexpectedly (with all the risk that comes with, including healthcare not being accessi…

Seems like something that shouldn't be left up to a consumer market.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#482

Post by exceptione » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:32 PM UTC

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…

I would indeed be cautious about attributing economic downturn to holiday spending, but I don't think Las Vegas can breathe freely now. It could be a canary in the coal mine. Some might say, the death of a canary is a rounding error. Others might say: what else is at risk?

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#483

Post by rurp » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:32 PM UTC

Herring wrote: post #327

Since the end of WW2, and especially since the end of the Cold War, Democratic administrations have presided over significantly higher job growth than Republican administrations. https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.c...

They're also the only party of fiscal responsibility, although Biden broke the pattern there. Nearly all deficit reduction over the past couple generations has happened under Democrats.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#484

Post by gardnr » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:33 PM UTC

cheesecompiler wrote: post #29

testfrequency wrote: post #4

I do not see the tourism industry mentioned here but I have to imagine that is a huge loss right now. Most of the world is not visiting the US right now which means projects and planning that was made in anticipation for summer has probably been halted or heavily reduced.

There is a significant majority of people in Canada who not only vocally decided to not go to US but discourage their friends from doing so too. People have judged me for driving through the states.

The hotel booking websites show pricing trend data and rooms are largely “low price” currently. March isn’t exactly high season for California but it’s an interesting indicator.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#485

Post by blurbleblurble » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:34 PM UTC

At this point it seems absolutely intentional. Where I live they're trying to block multiple billions of dollars of already allocated money used to fund county hospitals. Accelerationists in office explicitly declaring intent to bring about Armageddon via official channels? Why would they care about keeping people employed when they don't seem to think there's room for everyone to even live?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/03/us-israel-iran...

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#486

Post by mindslight » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:34 PM UTC

chazburger wrote: post #331

spiderfarmer wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point any policy decision that opposes Trump’s views is the better one.

[flagged]

And thank goodness for that! I'd never thought I'd see the day where I was praising the Fed. With a government full of arsonists lighting our institutions ablaze, the last thing we need is to dump more gasoline on the fires. The only way to unfreeze the Main Street economy is to get rid of the tyrant strangling our society for nothing more than his own personal enrichment and sick gratification.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#487

Post by spankalee » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:34 PM UTC

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #185

People were looking for the AI productivity metrics and here they are

How has today's AI meaningfully impacted construction and manufacturing jobs in the US?

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#488

Post by kasey_junk » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:35 PM UTC

dehrmann wrote: post #474

What are the current theories about why the perceived(?) healthy unemployment rate is lower post-covid? 4.4% is spectacularly good by historic standards. This has also been the slowest medium-term upswing in unemployment since WWII. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE I'd ignore the headline number and wonder what the longer term trend means because this isn't normal.

Macro demographics. Boomers are retiring and requiring healthcare in historic numbers.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#489

Post by newfriend » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:35 PM UTC

epistasis wrote: post #478

newfriend wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Immigrant isn't a race.

Mass deportations are being conducted mostly on the basis of race. The accusation of blatant racism, come from police chiefs, from judges, as well as everybody experiencing the mass deportation. And the accusation of racism isn't that immigrants are a race, but the exact racial discrimination in who gets kidnapped and disappeared by masked men that are indistinguishable from criminals.

>Mass deportations are being conducted mostly on the basis of race.

Care to share your stats?

This sounds like more of "I don't like this president, therefore what he's doing is wrong"

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#490

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:35 PM UTC

captainbland wrote: post #283

Luc wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That can't be right, the real figure is probably closer to 7%.

On top of the stringent border checks and Minneapolis, Brits are now seeing things like this and thinking twice: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/21/karen-newton...

[deleted]