Is that even possible? If so, it is an eye opener for what is happening in the American economy and what is causing the MAGA movement.
Let’s follow the evidence.
According to this article https://www.npr.org/2025/05/09/nx-s1-5375146/trump-tariffs-factory-jobs-nostalgia?
there are 12.7 million manufacturing jobs in America, down from an all-time high of 19.6 million in 1979.
According to this data base,
https://www.statista.com/statistics/437763/employment-level-in-canada-by-industry/
there are 1.8 million manufacturing jobs in Canada. Applying the standard 1-to-10 ratio (population ratio) that means scaled up proportionate to population Canada would have the equivalent of 18 million manufacturing jobs, just short of America’s all time high of almost 50 years ago, let alone the current US job rate.
That caught me completely off guard. Puts a whole new perspective on what Trump is saying about the dire state of the US. Even compared to Canada, the US is in the pits.
Here is another data bomb. One quarter of those US manufacturing jobs are held by immigrants. Not sure WHAT to make of that one.
America does have a problem regarding manufacturing jobs. But tariffs certainly are NOT the solution. If Canada can out-perform the US per capita without the trade barriers of tariffs, exactly what does that say about the condition America is in?
We need to let go of the rule of thumb that Canada is 1/10th the US in population.
It’s not just a nitpick to say that’s off now.
Canada has had a more rapidly growing population such that it’s been 1/9th that of the United States for most of a decade.
A quick calculation on current population estimates puts it as 347.5 / 41.5 million = ~ 8.4.
That said, Canada still has more manufacturing jobs per capita even with the correction.
The rule of thumb is not just bout population, but in applying it to other comparisons, so I think the 1 to 10 ratio is usually ‘close enough’. Certainly, if the US closes their doors completely it immigration, and as well keeps removing ‘aliens’, that ratio will certainly skew more and more in Canada’s favor.