Economy: USA & Canada: North American unemployment shrinks, still a 1.7 differential in percentages

It seems impossible that with all the dicey stuff happening around the world that the US is involved in, and paying dearly for with lives sacrificed by her young military, with all the loaded indebtedness and now the new aid promised for Africa, with even an acknowledgement by the Prez that humanity (also the USA) contributes to global warming (thus, the prospect of yet more expenditure, even if not Kyoto Proto sytle), with all the blocking of a full complement of of judges and ambassadors by meanly recalcitrant Democratic Senators; still regarding the national economy at present, Bushonomics is paying off with increased commerce and increased employment over the last several months. The unemployment figures "dip to lowest level in years" - since September 2001, to be exact, says Jeannine Aversa, economics writer for the Associated Press. "The civilian unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent in June, down a notch from 5.1 percent in May and the lowest since September 2001. The jobless rate has drifted downward after hitting 6.3 percent in June 2003, its highest point during the economic recovery."

Canada also benefitted from decreasing jobless rates. In June, "Employment edged up 14,000 in June, bringing total gains during the second quarter to 79,000 (+0.5%), three times the growth rate observed in the first quarter of 2005. The unemployment rate edged down to 6.7% in June, equalling the lowest rate in almost three decades last set in June 2000." The 1.7 differential will be hard to overcome in the short term, but any good news is good news when unemployment percentages are cut.

Statistics Canada jobless figures for June 2005