"All economic news is bad"

Andrew Coyne reminds us of Easterbrook's Law:

Easterbrook’s Law [is] named for the American journalist Gregg Easterbook, who first conclusively proved that all economic news is bad: all news means change, and all change, no matter how broadly beneficial, makes some people worse off -- who are invariably the focus of media attention.

The Toronto Star provides us with a nice demonstration. Two days ago, it ran this article:

Manufacturers ask Ottawa for tax relief: Canada's battered manufacturing industry is calling on the federal government to bring in a package of tax breaks to help companies survive in a tough global market...

Canada's manufacturing sector, largely centred in Ontario and Quebec, has already suffered 83,000 job cuts this year after being stricken by the effects of a higher Canadian dollar, soaring energy costs, widespread labour shortages in the West and cut-throat competition from lower-cost Asian players like China.

The ongoing economic slowdown south of the border, led by a sinking housing market, is also curbing demand for Canadian-made goods in that key export market.

Given that more than half of manufacturing shipments are exported, the sector is bracing for a total of 100,000 layoffs this year, said coalition spokesperson Jayson Myers, who is also chief economist of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters.

"The key question is what part of all of that high-value adding activity and those high-paying jobs are we going to continue to attract and retain here in Canada?" Myers said.

Pretty grim reading. But that was two days ago; today's TorStar has this story, equally alarming but with the spin reversed:

Job plan bypasses Ontario: A plan Ottawa launched yesterday to fast-track the entry of temporary foreign workers — but only to booming Alberta and British Columbia — has left critics wondering why Ontario's own labour crunch is being ignored.

Immigration Minister Monte Solberg announced in Edmonton he will ease the rules for recruiting foreign temporary workers and get them processed faster — from the current three or four months to as little as two.

"Canada's new government has been listening to employers in Alberta and British Columbia, and they are truly having a hard time finding enough workers," Solberg said. "The improvements we are announcing are making it easier, faster and less costly for employers to hire temporary foreign workers."

The catch: Ontario isn't in on the plan, despite big shortages of ready workers in jobs such as construction.

"It's not going to address the needs of Ontario's robust economy at all. Our construction industry is facing a huge labour shortage in many trades," said Andy Manahan, executive director of the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario.

The real story is how the Canadian economy is dealing with a large terms of trade shock. It's causing sectoral shifts, but the net effects are - so far, at least - generally benign. But that's just not alarming enough to merit media attention.

Comments

[Christine]

Aha, but what you missed was that the Ontario jobs that were lost are in manufacturing, which is "high-value adding activity" and gives "high-paying jobs", unlike those jobs in Alberta, and presumably Ontario construction, which are just labouring type jobs that anyone can do, even foreigners! We can have labour shortages and not enough jobs too. And we need to help manufacturers more. And the construction sector. But we should be cutting back on handouts, because we should be reducing taxes.

Or something.