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

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#641

Post by _DeadFred_ » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 7:50 PM UTC

kspacewalk2 wrote: post #555

_DeadFred_ wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most industries take notice when they lose 12% of a market. This is Russian style propaganda to say 'ignore this it's nothing'. We have an insane amount of policy/policy discussion around coal which only employs 40,000 people. I live in a border state with Canada and this is having a huge impact for my community and those around us. I can't imaging it not impacting at least 40,000 Americans.

It's not 12% of the market. It's 12% of 10% of the market. As I said, a Canadian boycott will hurt some (close to the) border destinations, but will hardly register in most places. I'm personally not crossing that border because it doesn't feel safe to do so, and because of the threats to our independence, but I know for sure it won't have a noticeable nationwide impact even if we all stay away, and the French and th…

Edit2: My bad if you felt attacked by me. That was my frustration with the current world presenting everything as too big to address, just give up and leave it be.

It's 12% of the international market. That is the segment. Any business is going to pay attention when they lose 12% of a market segment. Travel is 2.5% of GDP, above agriculture (0.9%), mining (1.3%), and utilities (1.5%) so a very outsize industry. Straight 10% of that (international travel) makes the rounding error market segment 20% of the size of our entire ag industry.

That is your 'rounding error' a segment that brings in 20% of the entire United States ag industry.

Tourism is also 15 million jobs so a 'rounding error' to such a large industry isn't necessarily a 'rounding error' to our population. 10% of that would be 1.5 million jobs. The entire US agriculture industry employs 812,600.

Again, the party that makes ridiculous claims for political impact is the one so concerned over 40,000 coal industry jobs but unconcerned about the fate of 1.5 million US workers because it's a small 'rounding error'.

https://www.squaremouth.com/travel-advice/us-tourism-statist... https://www.bls.gov/ooh/Farming-Fishing-and-Forestry/Agricul... https://www.trade.gov/feature-article/december-2024-internat...

Edit: My bad if you felt attacked. Everything just gets hand waived away as too big to do anything about nodays. I don't buy it. I'm a software developer. I was mentored on the montra 'how do you eat an elephant? one bite at a time'. It's the only way to create complex software solutions, and it's the only way to address our complex world. We shouldn't waive things away as rounding errors when they are part of a complex system. Especially when you consider the US Federal system. If you lose all the border states (most tourism comes from Mexico/Canada) you can easily lose control of the Federal government.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#642

Post by drivebyhooting » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 7:53 PM UTC

Jobs is one facet. But I’d curious to know about inputs and outputs.

Is the US producing more or fewer widgets? Are we generating and consuming more or less energy? How are imports and exports?

If inputs and outputs are staying the same then it would support the narrative of increased efficiency and elimination of BS jobs.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#643

Post by tialaramex » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 7:55 PM UTC

Retric wrote: post #426

ryandrake wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet, if we re-did the election today, we'd have the same outcome. People might not support what is happening but they will never "vote for the other guy." I personally know people who disagree with everything that's going on, but they'll still vote (R) next time "because I'm a (R)," as if it's their intrinsic physical trait like hair color.

Elections are decided as much by who shows up as who each individual supports. If the election was held tomorrow it’s likely many people that voted for Trump wouldn’t go, and many people who didn’t care enough to show up would.

Right, turning out your people is huge, and it becomes more rather than less important as margins are thinner which is a consequence of trying to gerrymander a thinner majority.

If Republicans turn 2 places they win by 130:100 plus a big city they lose by 100:130 into three they expect to win by 120:110 then if on the day Democrats turn out as usual but about 10% of the Republicans stay home across the board they lose all three 108:110.

My concern in the 2026 cycle is that there just won't be fair elections, and so this doesn't end up mattering.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#644

Post by cindyllm » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 7:55 PM UTC

drivebyhooting wrote: post #638

csomar wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. At this rate, they’ll lose both house and senate and they’ll be unable to govern until they lose the presidency in 2 years. Polymarket is showing 56/44 today down from a top of 75/25 a half year ago. The democrats lost the elections because of the economy. Gas prices were too high during Biden term.

And because they lied about Biden’s mental faculties - only forced by a horrible debate to put Kamala on the presidential ticket. It was a disgusting self own. I wish the Democratic Party would accept responsibility for that duplicity.

[dead]

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#645

Post by anigbrowl » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 7:56 PM UTC

elicash wrote: post #138

mekdoonggi wrote: post #3

Makes sense. At the rate we're going, by 2028 the US is going essentially be Venezuela except AI instead of oil.

We extract like 12 or 13 times more oil than Venezuela.

As a fraction of the economy, though

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#646

Post by rootusrootus » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 8:02 PM UTC

bonsai_spool wrote: post #549

rootusrootus wrote: post #513

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What percentage of the market actually pays it this way? IIRC, somewhere north of a third of Americans are already on a form of single payer healthcare. Most of the remainder are getting it through their job, subsidized to varying degrees. The fraction of the population that actually pays the full premiums out of their own pocket is pretty limited, AFAIK.

> What percentage of the market actually pays it this way? The only way this can make sense mathematically is if you're including children, seniors, and/or the ill—populations who are unable to work. What is your reference?

Pew Research says just under 7% of the population uses the exchanges to buy insurance. Overall, about 36% of the population is on public healthcare, according to Census.gov. KFF says that about 80% of the working population, plus or minus, gets insurance through their employer, with an average of $570/month out-of-pocket for premiums.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#647

Post by angiolillo » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 8:05 PM UTC

CalRobert wrote: post #293

angiolillo wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the friends are mostly here to get a feel for the place and see if they want to emigrate As a US citizen who has daydreamed about moving to a Dutch city like Ultrecht I'm curious what they found, and how it feels to be an immigrant in the Netherlands.

I live very close to Utrecht and I adore the city. We literally have kids in groups biking to the canal with fishing rods.

Sounds lovely. Our kids enjoyed the local bikepacking trips we did this summer, perhaps our next will visit the area. (In the off chance you have personal recommendations for bike touring companies/routes, let me know.)

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#648

Post by _DeadFred_ » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 8:08 PM UTC

kspacewalk2 wrote: post #560

_DeadFred_ wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tourism is a rounding error. Euros buying US arms are a rounding error. The benefits of a relationship with XYZ country is a rounding error. Any change we want to make to improve healthcare affordability is a rounding error. Everything around discussing improving housing affordability is a rounding error. The US economy is driven in part by coal which employs 40,000 people. Rounding errors have impacts and are part o…

It's not just tourism. Economically, the US does not depend on the rest of the world nearly as much as any other developed country. Trade (exports and imports) as percentage of GDP is the lowest of all major economies, by far. This is not up for discussion it's a fact you must ground everything else in. Having established that, you know the firm upper bound on economic (not cultural or political or podcast-topic-gene…

The foreign tourism segment is 20% of the size of the US ag industry. Saying this is a rounding error is ridiculous. 10% of US tourism employment would be 1.5 million people employed as a result of foreign tourism (total tourism employment is 15 million).

To say this a tiny unimportant segment that isn't worth talking about is ridiculous. Again especially considering the consideration the Republicans give tiny industries like coal which employs 40,000.

It's worth talking about a segment that employs 1.5 million in a discussion about 92k job loses.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#649

Post by gucci-on-fleek » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 8:19 PM UTC

dh2022 wrote: post #634

icecube123 wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I surprised more US folks dont visit Canada, its amazing, much safer, and cheaper for them because of the exchange difference. Im guessing they see prices in CAD ($), and think its more expensive, but not realizing that $1 of theirs buys $1.35 CAD.

Quick question about US folks traveling to Canada: are cars with US plates being vandalized in Canada? I was thinking to drive and stay in Vancouver for a few days but I would not want to get a graffiti on my car (or worse)

As long as you don't have a MAGA bumper sticker, I doubt it. Most Canadians have some American friends, so we're usually pretty good at separating "Americans" from "the American government".

Especially in Vancouver, most people should be pretty aware that anyone with Washington/Oregon plates (which I'm guessing is what you have) probably hates Trump more than they do.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#650

Post by gucci-on-fleek » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 8:24 PM UTC

overfeed wrote: post #630

conductr wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you’re all within your right to keep your distance from us. Our disgraceful leadership, even if it doesn’t accurately represent our people, we must suffer under it but no reason for you to do the same. We just hope you’re aware it’s only a few more years and we can begin to heal the whole relationship with more sane leaders that hopefully do see the strength and value in a positive relationship with a norther…

> [...]even if it doesn’t accurately represent our people I beg to differ, seeing that the US had free and fair elections - media bias aside.

Most Canadians are visiting Hawaii and California, not Arkansas and South Dakota, so the point still stands for the states most people are going to. (Although Florida and Arizona are both pretty popular destinations too, which somewhat contradicts my point)