Finance Minister Flaherty beams sunshine out of his cake hole: Labour market tells a different story

So there is this graph of harmonized unemployment rates comparing select advanced capitalist economies:

Click for crisper image

Then there is this quote from the Finance Minister Flaherty:

“We’re punching above our weight – far above our weight. And now the heavyweights are coming to us for lessons,” he said. “Leaders of the world [are] looking at Canada and our economy with envy, saying: ‘We want to be Canadian.’”

Well Jimmy they are not knocking on our door for advice on unemployment and I could drag out equally dis-confirming productivity stats to bring the hammer all the way down on the anvil but that would take thirty more minutes of my time.

More interesting it would be nice to know what advice Jimmy has been giving the heavy weights: engage in premature austerity and celebrate pyrrhic victory? No wonder Jimmy is getting invited over to all the cool finance ministry cocktail parties around the globe.

As an aside, it would be nice if the journalists over at the Globe would at least challenge the veracity of the claim. But I guess that is what unpaid bloggers do for a non-living.