Pity the United States of America, where the economy sputters and jobs are few and far between. The number of jobs in the private sector remains more than 6 million below the peak level reached in early 2008, Janet Yellen, vice chair of the Federal Reserve, told an audience this week.
Canada’s most recent jobs report, released Friday, shows the country lost 19,000 jobs in November, pushing the jobless rate up to 7.4 per cent. It was the second month in a row of job losses: In October, the market shed 54,000 jobs.
But that’s a far cry from the U.S. rate, which has hovered for months at 9 per cent. The first positive news on the U.S. side landed Friday with word the unemployment rate dropped in November to 8.6 percent.
As Ron James says in this bit of standup on the economy from Friday’s show, the U.S. economy is “dropping faster than concrete on a Montreal overpass.” Notes James:
Living next to the U.S. used to be cool, huh? They were the rich neighbour who brought up the property value of the entire street. Now that neighbour’s pickup truck is in the front yard sitting on blocks and he’s on the porch in a dirty bathrobe scratching his ass, drinking whisky from a coffee mug. Even Mexico’s going, ‘when’s that guy going to get a job, huh?’ “
The Ron James Show airs weekly on CBC TV, Friday nights at 8 p.m. ET. He’s on Facebook and Twitter.