Friday, February 6, 2009

More proof that things are really, really bad

Canadian job losses reached 129,000 in January, sending the National unemployment rate to 7.2% from 6.6% in December. Over 100,000 of the job losses were in manufacturing and 71,000 were lost in Ontario alone. My home Province of BC lost 35,000 jobs and the unemployment rate here now stands at 6.1% - up almost two full points from the end of 2007. Alberta continues to hang on to its jobs - I'm not sure how long that can last.

Payroll employment showed employment fell by close to 600,000 - unemployment now stands at 7.6%. Job losses since the start of the recession in December 2007 total 3.6 million. Wow.

Perhaps now that strange breed of creatures known as "Republicans" will feel a little more urgency to pass the stimulus package - that is, if , you know, they can get past the bizarro land logic that "spending" is mutually exclusive with "stimulus".

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