Global Unemployment Going to 50 Million...So Far

As the biggest international companies put heads on the chopping blocks, what started as a financial crisis is rapidly becoming a job crisis…

The employment attrition, which began last September with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the investment bank, is bearing down on blue-collar and managerial staff in the aerospace, motor, energy, retailing and electronics industries.

The rapidity of the downturn and the speed at which the corporate sector is responding with job cuts is creating alarm. Oil company bosses, who months ago were complaining of skill shortages, are now slashing jobs after a precipitous fall in oil prices.

…and there is a usual response that happens in civil societies after this kind of financial implosion…

Rising unemployment could lead to social unrest, the ILO predicted yesterday as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast a deep global recession with a severe contraction in the UK economy. The ILO report says that unemployment could rise by between 18 million and 30 million this year, and as much as 50 million if the world economy continues to deteriorate. In its worst-case scenario, global unemployment, which stood at 179 million in 2007, could rise to 230 million.

…this will likely get much worse before it gets any better.