Unemployment proves this recession is unlike downturns past

The jobs data for the US is so misleading. Out of the 431 000 new jobs created, the majority of them were for the Census for the upcoming Nov. election. They will then lose their job afterwards I believe only 41 000 jobs were created which is paltry.
The difference with the past is simple. We live in a Global Economy where the likes of China have taken away most of the manufacturing jobs. The average worker makes $70 per week in China. They don't live in poverty. They are still able to secure the basic needs of life and have a little left over. How do you compete with that in North America? It comes down to 3 things. We can lower our standard of living / self entitlement, we can close our borders to imports, or we can buy more U.S./Canadian products at a higher price and stop complaining about the cost. Price is relative folks. If you want that higher standard of living, support your fellow man. Keep in mind that those who work in the Export Industry can easily be affected by those countries who decide to follow the same path as ours.

Point well made. Without the Census (government created jobs), the US jobs rose only by 41,000. So in actuality, and comparing population bases, our 25,000 seems to be right on par or perhaps even better than the USA.

Recently, our company terminated an entire IT department and shipped those jobs oveseas. I also know that the Sears company has done the same thing with their catalogue order department. I'm not sure how one goes about replacing those lost jobs and creating new ones at the same time in order show any kind of strong growth. With the rate at which jobs are flowing out of Canada and the US perhaps those days are gone for good.

Great ideas "White Collar"...if you can afford to pay the much higher prices. Now, I see your title is "white collar" and not "blue collar." For the rest of us "blue collar" people...we like the much lower prices and are willing to pay, as we cannot afford the large prices . So maybe people should start thinking about lowering their standard of living??
(A point already mentioned by you, "white collar." I think an excellent idea.)

White Collar...did you check rental cost for major cities in China? Most grads over there have huge debt load like us here but they are renting apt for 90% of their wages. Cost of services & production cannot be address when there are no performance evaluation. People cannot just get pay for showing up to work and rec'd automatic inflation increases every yr. Lawyers cannot skim millions from healthcare or financial deals. The economy is damaged, those that knows it are abusing it(mortgage, healthcare fraud). So young grads & Phd will always recommend cutting cost by layoffs(also in agreement with this when I graduated in the 90's) but it is the top execs. that need to address their outrages pay. Can a monkey flip a coin to make a decision that CEO and VPs do better than thousands of hard working staffs if they know that their life line is about to be cut? I think not! So to save millions why not follow Cisco CEO and take $1 plus stock option. I am sure the bank will loan him $$$ if his company performed well and he can exercise these options. There are other CEO out there as well that do pratise this but not many in Canada, especially in the banking & financial sectors. Another CEO or VPs that people should look at are United Way, a charity or is it a legal way to party it up with some one else money. Our economy need a cleansing! The younger generation will really hurt the system if we don't set new laws to meet our global age. I don't want any children killing themselves like Foxcom factory workers did anywhere in the world.
Just my 2 cents. Since this all an unemployed person like me can contribute.

No comments are made about the quality of the jobs being created. I suspect that they are not as good as the jobs lost during the recession. Auto workers now have lower wage rates and weaker benefits. Only CEO's and managers seem to have gained during the recession and the recovery.

This year is a slow year that I have ever seen in my18 years of business. The stat data is right. It will not tell lies. Just the person who interpet the data lean on the positive side (tell the good side of the stories).
The economic is getting away from the bottom by improve efficiency (more machine and less worker). Corporates maintain profits by laid off old staff and hire new staff with lower paid. The old staff laid off and getting EI, retraining and waiting..... to get a new job.
The large corporate may already get back to profit. However, the laid off will take ages to recirculate to new job. That is the price we pay for cheap import and our high living standard (compare to developing countries).

i agree with lisa, everyone's standard of living should be lowered. great idea, let's all race eachother to the bottom.

Yes, let's lower our standard of living. Oh, and don't forget that we'll also have the priviledge of paying carbon taxes and possibly bank taxes. That should help take us down faster.

'Lies, bloody lies . . .and statistics.' Actually, the unemployment rate in Canada is, nationally, at least 20%. The increase in employment rates might have something to do, for instance, with the paperwork of all the immigration corporations.

I'm not a big supporter of any 'unemployment' numbers put forward which are always stated in isolation. A better statistic might be a publishing of median hours worked per week for all citizens aged 18 - 68. We might then get a more accurate picture of actual employment levels and what sort of revenue the government should be bringing in. After all neither a student, a person on welfare, a person on sick leave, or a person who's UI/EI has run out or a pregnant person are officially 'unemployed' they're just on extended vacation (without pay).