Last month America’s unemployment rate climbed to
8,1%, the highest in a quarter of a century. For those
newly out of a job, the chances of finding another soon are
the worst since records began 50 years ago. In China 20m
[5] migrant workers (maybe 3% of the labour force) have
been laid off. Cambodia’s textile industry, its main source
of exports, has cut one worker in ten. In Spain the
building bust has pushed the jobless rate up by two-thirds
in a year, to 14.8% in January. And in Japan, where
[10] official unemployment used to be all but unknown, tens of
thousands of people on temporary contracts are losing not
just their jobs but also the housing provided by their
employers.
The next phase of the world’s economic downturn is
[15] taking shape: a global jobs crisis. Its contours are only just
becoming clear, but the severity, breadth and likely length
of the recession, together with changes in the structure of
labour markets in both rich and emerging economies,
suggest the world is about to undergo its biggest increase
[20] in unemployment for decades.
The Economist, March 14th 2009.
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