Job Numbers Way Up in U.S., Down in Canada

Canadian unemployment rises for third consecutive month as the U.S. hits the lowest rate since 2009.

All those editorials and magazine covers trumpeting Canada as the beacon of economic stability might have spoken prematurely, as Canada experienced its third straight month of net job losses in December while the U.S. added a whopping 200,000 over the same time. The news is great for President Barack Obama, as American unemployment rate fell to 8.5 per cent, the lowest its been since he took office in February 2009. With the economy and jobs emerging as the dominant refrain in the 2012 election, Obama fortunes look brighter each day more jobs are added to the economy, even if no U.S. president has ever been re-elected when the unemployment rate's higher than 7.2 per cent. Up here in Canada, however, things aren't quite so rosy, as the jobless rate jumped a tenth of a percentage point from November to 7.5 in December. Back in September, the jobless rate was at 7.2 per cent, and one can reasonably expect looming cuts across the public service to only add to those jobless numbers. Granted, that 7.5 per cent's still a full point lower than in the U.S. At least both countries can be thankful that they're not in the EU: Greece's unemployment stands at 18.8 per cent, and Spain's is an astounding 22.9 per cent.