That latest U.S. jobs report is pure BS. With all the mass layoff announcements? In the first two weeks of Jan?
No. Fucking. Way.
I'm sure the numbers were fudged, probably pulled forward holiday and contract hires, just to dump on the longs.
They'll revise down months later.
The Fed really wants to keep this inflation narrative and rate hikes going, drag it out for as long as possible.
Probably a better measure but not reported in the media:
That is pretty bad and about the same as the UK where many over 50 year olds have given up working as it just doesn't make sense with the high taxes, especially on large pension pots.
And you know which other country has a 62-ish % labor participation rate?
Russia!
Most of Europe in fact scores worse. Only The Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries do a bit better.
These countries surprisingly all score (much) better:
The Republic of Congo 66%
China 68%
Ghana 68%
Kazakhstan 69%! (Borat will be happy, also with that number)
Central African Republic 71%
Niger 73%
Zambia 73%
Cameroon 75%
Bolivia 76%
Rwanda 82%
Madagascar 85%
Qatar 87%
Laughably low labor participation figures in the west. I think we are done for with this self destructive path, including big problems with demographics and scamming cunt politicians and central banks.
Maybe Bitcoin can save us to a certain extent but except for that I suspect the continent that has a bright future ahead in the next 100 years is mostly going to be Africa.