81–90 of 377 posts
govt is resetting the baseline now, so we will see some good numbers in November. it's all about optics for mid term.
No. Very bad economic numbers in August before a midterm is not a cunning political optics move.
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 d…
Indeed. Something to note is the labor force participation rate keeps dropping. We’re down to 61.4%. It was 61.5% in June 2026, 62.3% in June 2025. We also have 4.8 million that are part-time employed, but want full-time work. That’s up from 4.7 million last month, and up from 4.5 million in June 2025, and up further from 4.2 million in June 2024. There’s also 6.0 million that want a job, but aren’t employed. This is…
Yes, it's called people getting older and retiring. It's pretty obvious that's the cause if you compare the labor force participation rate overall vs for 25-54 year olds.
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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!
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No. Very bad economic numbers in August before a midterm is not a cunning political optics move.
It doesn’t matter whether it is a good move; just whether they think it’s a good move.
What is also interesting is that the only sector thad added jobs was health care.
Wealthy, aging boomers with increasing need for health care, makes sense.
Americans of all ages are spending more on healthcare, and seeking more healthcare interventions than in previous decades.
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Citation needed. Canada's economic indicators are all extremely healthy, despite the trade war tantrum from its southern neighbour.
Canada has faced nearly a decade of weak per capita GDP growth and secular stagnation. Statistics Canada confirmed the country slipped into a technical recession after two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth in late 2025 and early 2026.
And preliminary Q2 GDP numbers look very good, it appears the technical recession is most likely over (TBC once the final Q2 release is firmed up at the end of the month). Just two negative growth quarters when your southern neighbour has threatened to annex you by "economic force" is pretty damn good.
And, as a result, the market is ... up?
Meanwhile, Canada adds 75k jobs in the same month. > Gains were focused on the private sector, with strength in wholesale and retail trade, finance and insurance, and professional and scientific services. Public sector jobs fell by 14,500 amid an official bid to cut government spending. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/economy/article-can...
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=361007...
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/260807/dq260...
What is also interesting is that the only sector thad added jobs was health care.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumol_effect Any sector that's resistant to productivity growth is liable to become bigger and bigger part of the economy.
U.S. healthcare is a giant predatory clusterfuck and seems impossible to meaningfully reform.
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These guys are just nonstop liars. Print the headline, revise when no one is looking.
If you can do economics without revision, that is, find the real number of jobs lost or gained or workplace participation in real time, you could make a lot of money. Probably win some prizes, too. Economics is an imperfect science.