AP Highlights Canadian Job Gains, Ignores American Losses

In the same month the United States shed 216,000 nonfarm jobs, our neighbor to the north added 27,100.

Canada's unemployment rate is also a full percentage point lower than ours.

As American media focus on the just-released August employment data, will they point out this gain in Canada and how much better our neighbor's labor markets are doing than ours?

Consider that as the Associated Press reported Canada's numbers moments ago, there was absolutely no mention of how they compared to what was just released by our Labor Department (h/t John Bambenek):

Canada added a better-than-expected 27,100 jobs in August, one of the biggest gains since the recession began in the country last fall.

But according to Statistics Canada all of the jobs are part-time.

The agency said Friday that Canada's unemployment rate edged up to 8.7 percent from 8.6 percent in July, as more Canadians began looking for work.

Still, the addition of 27,100 jobs is well above the previous month's 45,000 job retreat. The result also beat consensus expectations of a 15,000 job loss month.

The U.S.-equivalent based on labor market size would be 271,000 jobs gained. The U.S. labor market is about 10 times the size of Canada's.

Wouldn't this have been a great spot to point out the fact that the U.S. lost 216,000 jobs in August sending our unemployment rate to 9.7 percent?

Apparently not.