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U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

nbcnews.com

211–220 of 377 posts

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah but the size of the us healthcare sector (like 18%) is a policy choice, other developed countries have theirs at 10-12%. U.S. healthcare is a giant predatory clusterfuck and seems impossible to meaningfully reform.

Like the US Justice system, the best advice to give is to avoid the US Healthcare system as much as possible.

[deleted]

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#212
post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A quick search suggests that Spain spends around 9.3% of gdp on healthcare. The UK spends around 10.9%. Singapore is around 5.5%.

While interesting facts, this is typically not the primary criteria which people use to decide where to expat to, versus availability and affordability. I cannot speak to the residency requirements of Singapore, but those of western Europe are very generous, as some who has helped folks leave the US for there. If you are in Spain on a tourist visa, and apply for the equivalent of a digital nomad visa while in country…

Oh, I was purely talking about what healthcare costs society.

I love it in Singapore, but if you don't want to live in a steam sauna, there are better countries for you. And if you are an American, I guess you don't even benefit from our more enlightened tax system anyway.

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#213

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…

The Fed just had an article on the labor force participation rate drops: https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2026/aug/what-is-b...

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#214
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it isn’t. Malaysians commute across the river daily and then return at night, having provided their services in exchange for compensation. Singapore gets the work without many of the associated problems with housing those people long term. As a result, there are some ridiculously niche jobs in Singapore that would not exist in another rich country, such as widespread domestic servitude and manual street sweeping

How is that different from people living in New Jersey and commuting to Manhattan?

Because unless you really just want to prop up only Manhattan’s statistics at the expense of NJ’s, it’s irrelevant to a discussion about US labor statistics.

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#216
post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While interesting facts, this is typically not the primary criteria which people use to decide where to expat to, versus availability and affordability. I cannot speak to the residency requirements of Singapore, but those of western Europe are very generous, as some who has helped folks leave the US for there. If you are in Spain on a tourist visa, and apply for the equivalent of a digital nomad visa while in country…

Oh, I was purely talking about what healthcare costs society. I love it in Singapore, but if you don't want to live in a steam sauna, there are better countries for you. And if you are an American, I guess you don't even benefit from our more enlightened tax system anyway.

> And if you are an American, I guess you don't even benefit from our more enlightened tax system anyway.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/fore...

> If you are a U.S. citizen or a resident alien of the United States and you live abroad, you are taxed on your worldwide income. However, you may qualify to exclude your foreign earnings from income up to an amount that is adjusted annually for inflation. In addition, you can exclude or deduct certain foreign housing amounts.

So there are mechanisms by which to avoid paying income tax to the US as as someone with a potential US tax liability living and working abroad, although it can be a facts intensive situation. Think like a Hacker, this is just another system and set of rules to hack ("How can I live outside the US, maximize my quality of life, pay the taxes due to my residency jurisdiction, while avoiding paying as much US federal income tax as possible?").

(For the 2026 tax year, the maximum Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) is $132,900 per qualifying person, an increase from $130,000 for 2025. Married couples where both spouses work abroad and qualify can exclude up to a combined $265,800; the contents of this comment are for educational purposes only, and are not financial or tax advice, speak with a professional)

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#217
post #204
post #100

I have recently started an experiment tracking a sample of 5000 employers in US and I see a bounce last week after a brief lull in july. I am not sure if there is a strong downward trend. https://corvi.careers/reports/usa-weekly-job-openings-report...

It's tough to trust job openings. It is a fact that some number of job postings are ghost jobs that don't exist. Either they're scams from impersonators or the companies are trying to keep a good public face, but many openings sit for MONTHS which just does not line up with the anecdotal evidence of people going 6-12 months without an interview much less an offer

True, but is there any reason to think this dishonesty varies over time? The trend could be informative even if the raw numbers are nonsense

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The numbers are as good as they can get with hard manual work that goes into compiling them. The problem is that small businesses lag by 1-2 months reporting them, so the initial number being reported is almost always irrelevant, as it mostly applies to numbers coming out of larger corporations.

That's true for the establishment survey, but the population survey, where they contact individuals, is what is actually used to calculate these numbers. It is literally calling/writing 60,000 people and asking "are you employed? did you look for a job? Etc." "How the government calculates unemployment" [0] | Does anyone in this household have a business or a farm? | Last week, did you do any work for (either) pay (o…

You have to wonder, since they are doing two different surveys trying to measure the same reality, which one more accurately measures the facts on the ground? Asking businesses how many people they are employing, or asking households whether or not their folks are working? The numbers don't really match up between the two.

Re: U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sudden reversal

#220

Meanwhile Canada is up 75,000 jobs in July. Can't wait to see the next tantrum America throws our way. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-jobs-july-2026-9.729...

Sorry, what's the connection here?

Canada is currently on the short list of countries Trump throws into his usual mad-libs of grievance flavored policy making.
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