The tail end of last week saw a raft of jobs and employment data releases from around the world.
However, the results were anything but informed with different countries facing different employment challenges.
US Job Growth Slows
In the US, the world’s largest economy, employment growth slowed more than expected in September. Reuters is reporting more than 300,000 Americans also lost their jobs permanently in September.
The slowdown in jobs adds further problems for Trump, who announced on Twitter that he and the First Lady had tested positive for coronavirus.
So far, more than half of the 22.2 million jobs lost during the pandemic have been restored (Rueters).
Japanese Unemployment Rate Rises
The Japan Times is repoting that Japan’s unemployment rate increased in August to its highest rate for more than three years .
Meanwhile, compounding problems for the Japanese labor market was the fact that job availability plummeted to a more than six-year low according to the The Japan Times.
The Times is further reporting that seasonally adjusted jobless rate increased to 3.0% in August, the highest since May 2017. Approximately, 2.06 million people lost their jobs in August, 490,000 more than in August 2019.
Aussie Job Vacancies Soar
In Australia, job vacancies soared in the three months to August. As coronavirus restrictions eased in the country demand for labour showed a rapid increase.
Job vacancies surged a staggering 59.4% in the three months to August. The huge leap followed a record 43.2% plummet between March and May. According to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), there were 4.5 unemployed people per vacancy in the three-month period, down from 7.1 in the three months to May.
Spain Sees People Return to Work
Data from the Social Security Ministry showed on Friday that Spain is in a very good employment trend.
Close to 80% of Spain’s furloughed workers have returned to work since April.
The Eurozone’s fourth-largest economy added 84,013 net jobs in September. This marked a 0.45% increase from the previous month and the fifth consecutive month of positive job creation.
During the same period, the number of jobless dropped by 0.69%, or 26,329 people, leaving 3.8 million people as registered unemployed.
September saw the largest decline in jobless numbers recorded for the month of September since 1996
Energy Industry Suffering in Nigeria
While Nigeria was struggling before the pandemic hit, the job market is suffering even more. Recently, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that Chevron was planning on downsizing its workforce by about 25 percent. Given that Chevron is one of the largest employers in Nigeria, this is sure to place a lot of individuals and families under a tremendous amount of stress during an incredibly difficult time. While it is not clear when this downsizing is going to start, there are lots of individuals and families in Nigeria who are going to have a hard time finding new work in this current job market.
South African Unemployment Rate Drops
While it might sound like good news that the South African unemployment rate has dropped to 23.3 percent, which is its lowest level in 11 years, this is not necessarily a good thing. The number of people who are not currently economically active rose by 5.1 million. This simply means that people in South Africa might have stopped looking for work during the lockdown, which means that the economy is going to continue to struggle in this country as the fight for a vaccine continues. Furthermore, the number of people employed dropped to 14.1 million (a 2.2 million person decrease), which is the lowest level since the third quarter back in 2011.
Britain Launches a New Program for Job Seekers
Recently, Britain announced that it was going to be pursuing a new program for those in need of a job. The government announced a new program valued at more than 238 million pound called the Job Entry Targeted Support (JETS) scheme. The goal of this program is to help those who have been out of work due to the pandemic. This program will help people learn how their skills can be useful in different parts of the economy, hopefully making it easier for them to return to work.
Israel Facing a Lost Generation
The heads of the jobs services departments in Israel are now warning of a lost generation of productive members of society. Given that Israel recently became the first country to lock down a second time, unemployment rates are surging as businesses are unable to cope with the prospect of having to close up shop a second time. With flu season on the horizon as well and the unemployment rate exceeds 900,000, many are concerned that the dual crises in Israel might be spiraling out of control, leading to a lost generation.
