#unemployment

#unemployment

Irene has stopped by a hidden gambling table in a western suburb of Honiara to play Pass, a street card game gaining popularity in the Solomon Islands capital. There are dozens of these games dotted across the city, with new sites appearing regularly.

"It has nailed every recession since WWII without falsely predicting a downturn. If it is triggered, it may take a while for the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research to confirm it, but we are already in a recession."

Mahmoud Shamiya, a university graduate who dreamed of becoming a teacher, now spends his days navigating a deadly routine in a displacement camp. He reflects, 'The occupation and this war came and destroyed all the landmarks of education in Gaza. Today, we have become aimless, jobless, and hopeless. We live a deadly routine.'

"Even before the conflict, I thought recession and risks were on the rise. Recession risks are very high—and unless the hostilities are coming to an end now, I think recession is more than likely by the second half of the year."

The unemployment rate for college graduates ages 22-27 soared to 5.6% at the end of last year, up sharply over the past three years and outstripping the overall rate of 4.2%.

The job market is struggling in the face of so many headwinds. Companies are going to be even more reluctant to hire this spring until the war ends and they can see consumers still spending. It's a tense time for the U.S. economy.

U.S. employers added a surprisingly strong 130,000 jobs last month, but government revisions cut 2024-2025 U.S. payrolls by hundreds of thousands. The unemployment rate fell to 4.3%, the Labor Department said Wednesday. The report included major revisions that reduced the number of jobs created last year to just 181,000, a third the previously reported 584,000 and the weakest since the pandemic year of 2020. The job market has been sluggish for months even though the economy is registering solid growth.

The forecasts from the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods (Icon) show crime rates and unemployment will rise until the next election in England's 613 most deprived neighbourhoods, despite the government's promises to invest in local communities. The report's authors warn the extra money ministers have pumped in is not enough to counteract longer-term trends such as the increase in antisocial behaviour and the problems facing the retail and hospitality sectors.

Under existing rules, savers can draw on their private pension from age 55, 11 years before the state pension age, which is due to rise from 66 to 67 this year. Up to a quarter of a private pension, capped at £268,275, can be taken tax-free from that point. In a new intervention, the think tank said ministers should consider limiting access to private pension wealth before state pension age, either by raising the minimum access age or by reducing the amount that can be withdrawn tax-free.

Her complaint is that Republicans blocked legislative efforts to raise California's minimum wage, implying that if Republicans really cared about workers, they would support a higher minimum wage. She lists a group of U.S. states that have no state minimum wage law and thus "take advantage" of low-wage workers. Her question to the chairman: "What do the states on that list have in common?" The states are Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.