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

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#441

Post by _DeadFred_ » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:13 PM UTC

xhkkffbf wrote: post #312

Uncle_Brumpus wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had never vacationed abroad in my whole life, then last year I traveled separately to Amsterdam (with 2 nights in Groningen) and Paris. Both trips ended up being cheaper than similar domestic trips. Both times I was extremely sad to return home. I would love to emigrate to Europe. One of the nights in Amsterdam, I couldn't sleep and spent the night frantically researching how to legally emigrate.

That's a bit ironic. If all of the undocumented people in the US spent this much time trying to emigrate legally, the US wouldn't need ICE and we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Our immigration system is broken. Reagan realized this in the 1980s and gave amnesty to millions and Republicans were going to reform it. But businesses being able to abuse an unprotected 'undocumented class' won out instead.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#442

Post by sgustard » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:13 PM UTC

s_dev wrote: post #330

fckgw wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What part did they find "terrifying"?

ICE agents shooting US citizens, the mass shootings, the school shootings, the crime rate and fentanyl 'bend' posture that makes loads of poor people look like zombies, the aggressive police with guns who sometimes shoot people, burglaries that involve shootings. A lot of the problems in America seems to stem from guns and drugs but also policy. Even something as simple as crossing the road is unnecessarily complicat…

I have been to Rome and Taipei and Johannesburg, and crossing the road is terrifying lots of places.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#443

Post by dehrmann » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:13 PM UTC

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?

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

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#444

Post by scroogedhard » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:14 PM UTC

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?

[dead]

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#445

Post by j2kun » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:14 PM UTC

cloverich wrote: post #295

jandrewrogers wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Washington it is much broader than the tech sector. Washington is being buried in indefensibly bad legislation that is extremely hostile to large companies and tech companies of every size for openly ideological reasons. It has rapidly become one of the worst business environments in the country when it used to be one of the best. Many companies have stopped or reduced hiring in Seattle and are moving operations t…

Which policies specifically? Certainly not the income tax on million+ income, seems pretty modest. We moved from TX. Property tax rate is low, no income tax sub million in income, schools are great (and almost all new), roads are fine and transit seeing massive investment. They definitely need to fix budget, but there's _ample_ wealth here to deal with it. I think they'll figure it out. _Oregon_ has bad policies (10%…

Oregon has some decent things going for it. Multnomah county is rolling out Preschool for All and it's wildly popular. I know lots of people who were going to move, but stayed in Oregon just because they got into the early lottery for it.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#446

Post by beezle » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:15 PM UTC

paxys wrote: post #13

If the government-approved numbers are this bad the real ones must be catastrophic.

Please keep in mind two things with the NFP report:

1/ the confidence interval for the monthly change in total nonfarm employment from the establishment survey is on the order of plus or minus 122,000

2/ the report is based upon a survey of establishments. There is no obligation to respond and many do not and ability/desire to respond may be impacted by company health as well.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#447

Post by _zagj » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:15 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.

> People have judged me for driving through the states.

Meanwhile it's perfectly acceptable, if not a point of pride, for Canadians to go to Cuba, which is not only run by an actual, kleptocratic dictatorship that imprisons dissidents for decades at a time, but is also the number #1 destination in the Americas for sex tourists, including child sex tourists, with the industry even tacitly sanctioned by the dictatorship ("jineterismo").

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#448

Post by Tiktaalik » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:15 PM UTC

Aurornis wrote: post #124

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.

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 agree that there are other factors likely impacting job losses in 2026, but it is possible that the impacts of a tourism downturn are only now being felt.

One thing worth noting is that the tax structure of American cities can be more based on sales taxes than property taxes, and so if tourism is down, and sales is down, this will begin to impact city budgets, which can have rippling effects elsewhere. For example municipal cutbacks to landscaping budgets could impact private contractors etc.

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#449

Post by kypro » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:16 PM UTC

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?

> Private education and health services

I'm probably missing something here, but those seem quite unrelated categories, and I'm not sure why anyone would pay for private education these days when we all have access to free AI private tutors?

Re: US economy unexpectedly sheds 92k jobs in February

#450

Post by JumpCrisscross » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:16 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #299

mrbombastic wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed but we also have to stop saying "the majority support this" or "half the country supports this" it ain't true and leads people to feel hopeless.

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.

> if we re-did the election today, we'd have the same outcome

Doubtful. The faithful will always be idiots. But around them are vast seas of folks who change their minds and even switch parties. Between foreign policy, vaccines (weirdly, not being nutter enough) and Noem turning ICE into a pageant show, a lot of Trump voters feel betrayed. It’s why the House flipping is almost a given.