Canada labour trends

Canadian labour trends strong, as well as wages

Eric Garland DataLab

While things are less cheery for their southern neighbors, Canada has just reported an increase in both labour participation and rising wages for the 10th straight month. This is particularly welcome news for Canada given two main threats to its economic stability. First, its reliance on raw materials – especially oil exports – means that low petroleum prices damage their …

coal mining jobs

Comparison of coal mining to national parks jobs

Eric Garland DataLab

US president Donald Trump has talked at length about restoring US coal mining jobs despite the failure of the industry as a whole due to the transition to renewables. On the chopping block? Funding for the national parks service. Hat tip to journalist Matt Yglesias for dipping into the St. Louis Federal Reserve’s FRED database to compare trends in coal …

minimum wage Seattle unemployment

Minimum wage increase in Seattle correlates with low unemployment

Eric Garland DataLab

Barry Ritholz of Ritholz Wealth Management has been an ardent supported of minimum wage increase as a factor in economic growth. With this latest report on Seattle’s record low unemployment, he’s spiking the football on decoupling the increase in wages with job loss. We may have in Seattle the skunkworks for future minimum wage increases as a catalyst in job …