this post was submitted on 11 May 2025
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Canada has more manufacturing jobs per capita than the US. (lemmy.ca)
submitted 2 days ago by Daryl@lemmy.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca
38 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Is that even possible? If so, it is an eye opener for what is happening in the American economy and what is causing the MAGA movement.

Let's follow the evidence.

According to this article https://www.npr.org/2025/05/09/nx-s1-5375146/trump-tariffs-factory-jobs-nostalgia?

there are 12.7 million manufacturing jobs in America, down from an all-time high of 19.6 million in 1979.

According to this data base,

https://www.statista.com/statistics/437763/employment-level-in-canada-by-industry/

there are 1.8 million manufacturing jobs in Canada. Applying the standard 1-to-10 ratio (population ratio) that means scaled up proportionate to population Canada would have the equivalent of 18 million manufacturing jobs, just short of America's all time high of almost 50 years ago, let alone the current US job rate.

That caught me completely off guard. Puts a whole new perspective on what Trump is saying about the dire state of the US. Even compared to Canada, the US is in the pits.

Here is another data bomb. One quarter of those US manufacturing jobs are held by immigrants. Not sure WHAT to make of that one.

America does have a problem regarding manufacturing jobs. But tariffs certainly are NOT the solution. If Canada can out-perform the US per capita without the trade barriers of tariffs, exactly what does that say about the condition America is in?

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[–] Daryl@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The way the currency is valued in China is very different than how it is valued in Canada. Canada still let the dollar float, meaning the market to a great extent determines its vale, The Canadian dollar is worth exactly what someone wants to buy/sell it for in another currency. China uses a fixed currency. It does not float. Canada used to have a fixed dollar against the US dollar.

[–] toastmeister@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

But isnt its value all contingent on how the CPI is calculated?

Also how many treasury and mortgage bonds the BoC buys.

[–] Daryl@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

The value of the Canadian dollar is dependent on the CPI only to the extent that the market relies on the CPI to assess what the market is willing to pay for the dollar. Interest rates probably have a greater influence. The BoC can influence the exchange rate of the dollar to a limited extent by influencing supply/demand through the purchase/sale of Canadian debt instruments, but that is indirect through interest rates. China can influence the price of the Canadian dollar by either selling off or buying Canadian dollars in its foreign currency reserves.

In point of fact, China COULD theoretically tan the American dollar by selling off the trillion it has in American currency reserves, but that would be a one-shot weapon and it would also cause pain in China, since China now owns so much of American industry.