Monday, March 10, 2008

Hey, It's Not All Gloom and Doom

CHICAGO--McDonald's Corp., the world's largest restaurant company, said sales at locations open more than 13 months increased 12% in February, spurred by growth in Europe and Asia.

Comparable-store sales at U.S. outlets rose 8.3%, driven by strong performance from its breakfast, coffee and "everyday value" offerings. Sales in Europe advanced 15% while gaining 11% in the region encompassing Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Canadian Employment at Record Highs--The U.S. should be envying Canada, its northern neighbor who reported stunning job growth in the month of February. The market was forecasting an increase of only 3k jobs, but to their surprise, 43k new jobs were added to Canadian payrolls, keeping the unemployment rate at a 33 year low of 5.8%. The increase in jobs was concentrated in the Ontario region and in the construction, public administration, service and trade sectors. Wages were also very strong with a 4.9% increase in the average hourly rate, more than double the rate of inflation.

3 Comments:

At 3/10/2008 10:23 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

More people perhaps eating at MCD due to the soft economy?

 
At 3/10/2008 4:32 PM, Blogger randian said...

The US, with an unemployment rate under 5%, should envy Canada with a 33-year low unemployment rate of 5.8%? In what universe does this writer live?

 
At 3/10/2008 5:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

randian, if Canada had the same labor force participation rate as the US their unemployment rate would be around 4.1%.

In Canada the labor force participation rate is 67.6% and in the US the same figure is 65.9%.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home