The Canadian work force grew in April, adding 36,000 positions, mainly through self-employment, Statistics Canada says. As a result, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.0 per cent last month, the highest in seven years.
You have to admire how the G&M went hard into the MacLean’s style of exaggeration in order to keep market share. Just think about that line “the highest in seven years”. Canada has not been in a recession (let alone a depression) in 15 years (until now). So saying the “highest in seven years” is comparing to 2002. There was no recession in 2002.
If we were indeed in the worst recession since the Great Depression we would expect unemployment to rise to 15% or some such number. Not the “highest in seven years”.
What’s next? “The Highest in two months?
I’m not underplaying this recession but I think a little balance to the overplay from the media is needed.
To be fair, I think that you should also mention when the G&M (and most of the press for that matter) says that “(…)stocks have SOARED” since the beginning of the year, especially when they started at $30, fell to close to $1, and now they have “soared” to $3.
The fair way to put it would be: “Since the beginning of the year, NNN stocks have RECOVERED X% of the value that they lost since their peak in July 2008”.
That would give everyone a better idea of the recession that we are talking about.
When I took Econ 1000 8% was still in the healthy economy range for unemployment. I find it interesting that Economists now seem to use different ranges than they did 15 years ago.
Wonder what they say in those first Economics classes now?