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05 Dec
09 - Small business, big trouble: Over the past year the big
end of town has raised $80 billion in new capital and sold assets
to reduce debt. Some have failed spectacularly, such as Babcock
& Brown, Allco Finance and ABC Learning. Others have fallen
under the control of their lenders, among them Centro Properties
Group. Small businesses, though, have struggled on the funding
front. An insider at the Australian Taxation Office has told
Weekend Business that small business debt levels are now
"horrendous". "We're talking companies that can't meet their
liabilities," he said. "A lot [of them] are trading which are
technically insolvent." ........ With business bankruptcies and
wind-ups already rising, the next year could be tough ....... But
the ATO may already be losing patience. One inner Sydney tax agent
told Weekend Business that he is seeing an increasing number of
referrals to debt collectors. ''I get the impression, in the last
three months, probably within a week of falling late, that they go
straight into recovery. Previously we've only seen it in smaller
amounts. We're seeing it in larger and larger amounts now.'' [more]
21 Sep
09 - Financial stress for families on the rise: Stable
unemployment figures and wafer-thin economic growth are masking an
unfolding story of mortgage stress, rental problems and
homelessness as the real impact of the downturn bites. Financial
counsellors say in the past 12 months their client base has shifted
significantly from mostly long-term unemployed to those who, after
a lifetime of employment, are out of a job and struggling to pay
their mortgage or worse, feed their family. The shift has been
profound. The number of clients who are employed but in financial
stress has increased by 36 per cent in the past six months, while
mortgage stress has risen by 60 per cent, said Sherrie Wilkins, a
financial counsellor at the Far West Credit Counselling Service in
Broken Hill. "Their cases are much more difficult to manage,'' she
says. ''They have massive utility bills, credit card bills and
other debts - I have got clients who are suicidal, clients who are
depressed and on medication, who have already lost their house, or
worried they will lose their house." Ms Wilkins has seen parents go
without food to feed their children - telling them they are on a
diet rather than admitting that even buying groceries is a struggle
- and people driving in unregistered cars, too broke to afford the
fee but unable to get to job interviews any other way. [more]
01 Sep
09 - Australia not out of the woods, figures show: New data
has thrown doubt on the strength of Australia's rebound from the
global financial crisis. Corporate profits and stockpiles slumped
sharply in the June quarter, while business lending was still going
backwards in July..... On a day when the Chinese sharemarket staged
another spectacular plunge amid growing concerns over the strength
of China's recovery, the run of favourable data in Australia hit
a hurdle, or several of
them,...... Financial markets have now priced in three rate rises
in the next six months, the first in November........ The Bureau of
Statistics yesterday reported that corporate profits slumped 7.8
per cent in the June quarter after seasonal adjustment. It was
their third consecutive quarterly fall, and the steepest yet. [more]
01 Aug
09 - Optimism not a great foundation on which to build a
recovery: Maybe the weather is to blame. A week of balmy winter
days, the city fanned by a light westerly that has cleansed the
air, sharpened the images and deepened the hues of an already
impossibly blue sky. Everyone seems to be just overcome with
optimism....... It all raises the question; are we really so lucky
that we will just glide through this entire event relatively
unscathed? It looks like it. But before we get too smug, it’s worth
noting that optimism on its own isn’t a great foundation on which
to build a recovery. It certainly helps. But it is not enough in
isolation. It is worth bearing in mind that elsewhere in the world,
we have still to see the worst of the recession. The bulls have
taken hold simply because the pace of economic decline has slowed.
And it has slowed primarily because of co-ordinated government
stimulus packages and loose monetary policy, not because of
improved demand..... Still, why worry? The sun is out, there’s a
light offshore wind, and everything feels just fine with the world.
[more]
20 Jul
09 - Jobs catalyst of a domino effect: Once rising
unemployment sets in, governments will face a policy dilemma that
will determine the prospects for recovery ..... A sharp contraction
in jobs and labour income has negative consequences on both the
economy and financial markets. First, falling labour income implies
falling consumption for households, which have already been hit
hard by a massive loss of wealth ..... Second, job losses will
leas to a protracted and severe housing recession.... Third, if an
unemployment rate of 10 per cent to 11 per cent is put into any
model of loan defaults, the result is ugly figures not just for
residential mortgages.... but also for commercial real estate,
credit cards, student loans, car loans and so on.... Fourth, rising
job losses leads to greater demands for protectionist measures.
This threatens to aggravate the contraction in global trade. Fifth,
the higher the unemployment rate rises, the wider budget deficits
will become... [more]
20 Jun
09 - Worse to come for Australian economy: Australia's
sharemarket will halve in value, house prices will slump as much as
40 per cent and unemployment will climb to 10 per cent. That's the
bold prediction from economic forecaster Harry Dent, who says a
bigger crash is ahead for the global economy within the next two
years. And while Australia's strong financial system, links
to China and young working population have cushioned the nation
from the economic turmoil so far, Mr Dent says smart investors are
cashing up in preparation for "the Mother of all depressions". [more]
09 Jun
09 - More disappointment for small business: The small
business lobby faces disappointment over its call on the federal
government for greater assistance in obtaining finance, with Small
Business Minister Craig Emerson saying yesterday the government has
already done what it can..... Opposition small business spokesman
Steven Ciobo said up to 90 per cent of small businesses were
suffering from cash-flow stress, which government policies had
failed to alleviate. "It's a shame that the government's so
focussed on window dressing," he said...[more]
09 Jun
09 - Worsening labour market on the cards: Labour
market data to be released this week is expected to show the
economy shed 20,000 jobs in May, as the jobless rate creeps upwards
and the number of jobs advertised continues to decline. ... [more]
25 May
09 - Size of first-home buyers' loans inflating: THE average
loan size for first-home buyers has risen by $52,000 - or 23 per
cent - in the past two years, raising fears that the
much-publicised government incentives for young buyers are
artificially inflating the market. A report commissioned by
Brandmanagement, a market research firm specialising in the finance
sector, says the average size of loans being taken up by young home
buyers is jumping by an "unsustainable" amount, The Australian
reports..... the statistics - which indicate that property prices
are rising in line with loan sizes - have raised questions about
whether the government incentives were simply being used by
consumers to buy into a bubble...[more]
18 May
09 - Savings slump brings crisis closer to home: Almost 30
per cent of NSW residents have no savings, according to a new study
that shows many have been caught unprepared for the recession and
rising unemployment...."The report is a sobering snapshot of how
the unprecedented downturn of the past six months has hit home,"
said the chief executive of Bankwest retail, Ian Corfield.
"Millions of NSW residents are failing to put sufficient money
aside to cover life's setbacks." He said nearly 60 per cent of
those from NSW who took part in the six-month online study of 1144
people had not adjusted their finances in response to the
recession, 29 per cent admitted they had no savings and 40 per cent
saved none of their pay.... The Government forecast that
unemployment rate would rise from 5.4 per cent to 8.5 per cent by
June 2010, but the report found 56 per cent of people would
struggle financially if they were made redundant. "Not only would
most people be in dire trouble if they lost their jobs, but our
report found that half of Australians would struggle with simple
things like a rise in household bills or major repairs to their
car," Mr Corfield said. Twenty per cent said they could not afford
an expensive operation, 26 per cent could not pay for major house
repairs not covered by insurance, 12 per cent could not meet a
sudden increase in household bills or be able to replace a
household appliance, and 13 per cent could not pay for major car
repairs. In most cases a further one-third said they could just
manage to meet those costs, but it would be a struggle. [more]
18 May
09 - European vacation: The collapse in European GDP
revealed late Friday evening was astonishing. For the Eurozone as
a whole, GDP shrank 2.5
per cent in March quarter, compared to the December quarter (not an
annual rate, as the United States reports). German GDP fell 3.8 per
cent, which is equivalent to an annual rate of -15.2 per cent (US
GDP fell at annual rate of 6.1 per cent in that quarter). Germany,
in other words, is in a depression. Slovakia and Latvia – small,
open economies that rely on manufactured exports – fell a
staggering 11.2 per cent in the March quarter, an annual rate of
-33 per cent. For Australia, the unfolding disaster in Europe
offsets the signs of a government-sponsored recovery in China.
According to Austrade, Australian exports to Europe total $27.3
billion and to China, $26.9 billion... [more]
07 May
09 - City dwellers sinking deeper into debt: Even before the
recession threw tens of thousands of people out of work,
Sydneysiders were struggling to cope financially, failing to save
or budget, and unable to pay their bills on time. A survey by the
Wesley Mission, conducted in December, shows Sydney residents were
financially worse off than they were when surveyed two years
earlier. Almost one in three Sydneysiders said it would be
difficult or impossible to cope with a $160 increase in their
monthly expenses compared with 14 per cent in August 2006. There
was also a near doubling in the numbers who would find it difficult
or impossible to raise $2000 on short notice, rising to 30 per cent
of Sydney residents. And 23 per cent could not pay their
electricity, gas or telephone bills on time compared with 13 per
cent in 2006. "More families are doing it tough and struggling to
make ends meet," said the Reverend Keith Garner, superintendent of
the Wesley Mission. "And they don't have the wherewithal to handle
a crisis." The report, Financial Stress: The Hidden Cost, to
be released today, calls for a national financial literacy campaign
to complement the Federal Government's planned changes in the
finance and lending sectors. [The Survey] shows almost half had no
savings and one in eight were on the verge of insolvency by
spending more than they earned. Many would find it hard to cope
with an emergency, such as an unexpected medical bill, the report
said. An alarming 20 per cent of credit card holders could never
pay off their balance in a 12-month period, yet more than half the
residents surveyed had neglected to draw up a budget in the
previous year. ....... As the economy deteriorated, Wesley Mission
recorded a marked increase in calls from people suffering financial
pressures, bankruptcies and lack of affordable accommodation, the
report says. [more]
28 Apr
09 - Close to a million Aussies will be unemployed at peak of
recession ...: Close to a million Australians face unemployment
as the nation's economy plunges into recession, a leading economic
forecaster warns...... In a brutal assessment to be issued today,
Access dramatically upgrades its prediction of when -- and how high
- the jobless rate will peak. The estimate three months ago was 7.5
per cent in the middle of next year. "Sadly, we have now revised
that up to around 8.5 per cent by the closing months of 2010 -
close to a million unemployed," Access says. Its quarterly business
outlook paints a dark picture. "Rather than a recovery year, 2010
looks increasingly like a continuation of the bad news of 2009," it
says. [more]
31 Mar
09 - Worse yet to come for small business, say firms: Almost
two-thirds of small business owners expect the economy to slide
into recession in the next 12 months, the latest survey by software
company MYOB shows. Of the 1503 small business owners surveyed by
MYOB last month, 63 per cent expected the Federal Government to
announce that Australia was in recession within the year, The
Australian reports. Business owners with annual sales of more
than $1 million were more pessimistic about the economy than those
with a turnover of less than $1 million. "Australia's small
business owners, who are usually highly optimistic, are losing
confidence in the economy, and this has impacted their confidence
in the Federal Government, with 45 per cent believing that the
Government has not adequately considered the impact of the
financial crisis on small business,'' MYOB's chief executive Tim
Reed said. [more]
31 Mar
09 - One in four workers to go on welfare: There could be
one person of working age on welfare for every three people with a
job by the time a recession ends, according to one of Australia's
leading economists, Bob Gregory. The welfare blowout, with more
than a million more people likely to be relying on benefits, will
far exceed the threat posed by an increasing aged population and
has so far been overlooked by Federal Government and Treasury,
The Australian reports. Professor Gregory has modelled the
changes in the welfare population following the 1990-92 recession,
and says the rise in unemployment is likely to be followed by
increases in the number of people on disability, carer and
sole-parent pensions. [more]
19 Mar
09 - No sign of a quick rebound: Any hopes of a quick
rebound in the economy have dimmed with the release of an array of
numbers indicating household finances are being squeezed from all
sides. The Federal Government's combined $52 billion in stimulus
spending is yet to spark a recovery in key sectors such as housing
starts and vehicle sales, two of the biggest ticket items for
consumers. Housing starts for the December quarter collapsed 9.9%,
the lowest since September 2000 - when the GST was introduced -
with the size of the contraction surprising analysts. ''There's
been more evidence the Australian economy is turning for the
worse,'' said JP Morgan economist Helen Kevans. Forward-looking
figures indicate more gloom ahead for the housing sector, as well.
The Westpac - ACCI Survey of Industrial Trends index dropped to 34
points, from 40.4 points, the lowest activity level since the 1990
recession..... That gauge indicates the jobless rate has much
further to climb than the 5.2% level recorded in February, as
companies continue to scale back growth plans. Ms Kevans expects
unemployment to rise to ''at least'' 9% by the end of 2010........
An RBA official acknowledged the tough times ahead in the
economy. [more]
14 Mar
09 - The real pain of recession is starting to hit home:
What's the difference between a recession and a depression? Most
economists will give you a considered response about the number of
months over which an economy shrinks. But here's the real answer. A
recession is when a friend or family member loses their job. A
depression is when you get the sack. While most of the debate in
recent times has concentrated on frozen credit markets, executive
mega-salaries, bank nationalisations and the impact on
shareholders, the real cost of recession is measured in
unemployment queues and the toll that exerts on individuals and
families. [more]
11 Mar
09 - Boomers face stark choices in bleak economy: Prolonged
economic collapse leaves little time to reinvent, recover, rebuild.
It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. The Me Generation’s twilight
years were supposed to be a bookend for the Golden Age of the
American Dream they inherited after the country triumphed in World
War II. For all but a few, that dream is fast slipping away, as a
surge in layoffs and the collapse of the housing and financial
markets leave them with few options and little time to recover and
rebuild. “I don’t think there’s any way around it: The baby boomers
are going to be in bad shape,” said Dean Baker, an economist at the
Center for Economic and Policy Research. “The only way that they're
going to be able to come out OK is if they can work later in their
lives. Even then it’s going to be tough because very often it’s
going to be at considerably lower wages.” The statistics are bleak.
The housing market collapse has wiped out some $3 trillion in home
equity that once formed the bulk of most boomers' life savings. The
incineration of another $11 trillion in stock market wealth has cut
a wide swath through the individually managed accounts that have
largely replaced the employer-managed pensions that supported their
parents’ generation in retirement..... Many are now burning through
what remains of their savings and raiding retirement accounts to
pay college tuition or to meet basic household expenses.....
Millions of younger, still-employed boomers, who thought their
retirement plans were on track, also may have to abandon the idea
of ever retiring...... [more]
07 Mar
09 - Plenty to prove we are in a recession: Kevin Rudd and
Wayne Swan may still be refusing to utter the word, but on every
reasonable reading of the figures the economy is already in
recession. According to this week's national accounts, gross
domestic product - the nation's total production of goods and
services - fell by 0.5 per cent during the three months to
December... The Government is waiting to see if we get a second,
consecutive quarter of contraction before it will use the R-word,
but there's no reason the rest of us should hang back. Why not?
Because there's too much other evidence saying the economy's
getting smaller and unemployment is worsening rapidly.... The
economy's been so weak for so long that it grew by a mere 0.3 per
cent over the whole year to June. That says the contraction in the
June quarter was no anomaly. If, as is commonly done, we abstract
from the weather-driven volatility of agriculture and look at the
non-farm economy - which is 97 per cent of the total - we find it
contracted by 0.2 per cent in the September quarter and by 0.8 per
cent last quarter. If, as we probably should, we adjust for
population growth and look at GDP per person, we find it's fallen
for three quarters in a row, by 0.2 per cent, 0.3 per cent and 1
per cent. Then there's unemployment - which, after all, is the main
reason recessions are feared. The rate of unemployment rose by 0.7
percentage points to 4.8 per cent over the year to January. Since
August, full-time employment has fallen by 47,000 or 0.6 per cent.
According to the Government's own forecasts - which are likely to
be too optimistic - the unemployment rate will rise by a further
0.7 percentage points by just June, and by another 1.5 percentage
points in the following year. That's a recession in anyone's
language..... But, really, the main thing to note is just how
widespread the production declines were. To a greater or lesser
extent, most sectors went backwards. Sorry to rub it in, but that's
further evidence we're already in recession. [more]
05 Mar
09 -It will get a lot worse, says ALP: Efforts to keep the
economy out of recession appear increasingly futile as new figures
confirm Australia has been unable to resist the downward pull of
global economic forces. The Government said yesterday the
contracting economy for the December quarter would have been worse
without the $10.4 billion stimulus package before Christmas.
Economists said the country was most likely already in recession,
The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, said Australia was caught in an
"unfolding global economic cyclone" in which 17 of the world's
advanced economies had experienced at least two quarters of
negative growth and another 27 had at least one quarter of decline.
"Australia cannot swim against the global economic tide," he said.
"Australia can reduce the impact … of the global economic tide but
we cannot stop it altogether." [more]
26
Feb 09 - Paying the price for having it good... and for so
long: How bad will the downturn in the economy get? Will
recession be averted or will things be so bad for so long that
people start wondering if we are in a depression? The honest answer
is that no one - not politicians, economists or business people -
can say with any confidence. It's the future and it's
unknowable..... The Reserve Bank's forecast is for the economy to
be at its weakest in the first half of this year, but then begin
recovering in the second half. If this comes to pass the
unemployment rate may not go much higher than 7 per cent - about
800,000 souls. If that sounds bad, it is..... We had it so good for
so long that maybe now we'll pay a high price. [more]
26 Feb
09 - Brace for more bad news: The Government has warned the
nation to steel itself for more large-scale job losses as it cited
yesterday's lay-offs of almost 2000 people as sobering evidence the
global financial crisis had hit home..... The mini-budget this
month warned that despite the billions spent on economic stimulus
measures, there would still be an extra 300,000 unemployed by June
2010. "This is what 300,000 jobs begins to look like. This is
bringing it back home," Senator Carr told the Herald. Echoing his
sentiments, the Employment Minister, Julia Gillard, said: "There
will be more days like this." [more]
12 Feb
09 - Business conditions hit recession levels: Business
conditions are the worst they have been since the start of the
early 1990s recession and the commercial sector expects the trading
environment to deteriorate by March, a key report says. National
Australia Bank's December quarter survey also showed business
confidence had dropped to a record low. NAB economists expect the
economy to contract in 2009 even with the Federal Government's $42
billion stimulus package. The prospect of higher unemployment is
expected to force the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to slash
interest rates to an all-time low. Business conditions have now
worsened for four consecutive quarters, since declining from a peak
in the December quarter of 2007, NAB said. "This represents the
largest annual fall in business conditions since entering the
1990/91 recession," the report said. [more]
04 Feb
09 - The Paradox of Stimulus: Yesterday the Prime Minister
said something like: “The world economy is totally buggered, but
here’s a few bucks for some of you and we’re going to pay for a
whole lot of schoolrooms to give a few of you something to do.”
Well, OK, what he said in his address to the nation was: “We
now face a global economic recession – with a massive impact on
jobs right across the world.” And then: “The policy of this
government is to act and to act decisively.” Note that,
having watched the government act and act decisively in the
morning, the Reserve Bank still went ahead with the 1 per cent rate
cut that it was planning for the afternoon. That’s because
yesterday’s fiscal stimulus package was a political announcement
not an economic one – it will make almost no difference to the
economy….. Banks are not lending, businesses are not investing and
consumers are not spending, and government simply cannot replace
them. [more]
02 Feb
09 - Bankers resigned to a very hard year: The chastened
experts who manage the world economy have written off this year as
a disaster they can do little about. "Everybody knows that 2009 is
going to be a very tough year." ......Westpac's Gail Kelly, the
Commonwealth's Ralph Norris and Goldman Sachs's Craig Drummond
....... braced for a very rough ride over the rest of the year. "I
think 2009 is going to be difficult," says Norris. "The danger is
that businesses will very quickly throw people out on the
street.".... The bad news for Australia is the unexpected rise of
so-called financial protectionism. As banks become part or fully
nationalised in the US and Europe, they are pulling the capital out
of foreign markets and back to home base. Australia is exposed
because the nation has to import capital and its otherwise solid
banks have to tap foreign capital markets because of the nation's
low savings rate. Norris says business needs to look at how to
"share the pain" around its workforce by wage restraint and
flexible working hours rather than sackings. Kelly says 2009 should
encourage "back to basics" banking and recognition that many
customers "are going to be wearing some pain"... [more]
31 Jan
09 - Drop the anchor and furl the sails, we're going over the
edge: .... A torrent of profit warnings this week showed few
companies, if any, are safe from the market turmoil. And now it's
Australia's more sturdy blue chips who are issuing dire warnings
which echo the global mayhem we were meant to be immune from.....
Frank Lowy's property empire, Westfield, revealed a $3 billion
write-down while Boral shocked the market this week by slashing its
profit guidance, set only two months ago, by 40 per cent.... Few
doubt there will be more negative surprises in the weeks ahead -
the only question is how drastic the impact of a deteriorating
world economy will be..... the Australian economy is heading into a
major slump, and most analysts are only starting to factor in the
impact from the Chinese economic slowdown, lack of consumer
confidence, and tight credit conditions.... The idea that we were a
prudent, sensible country that never indulged in the reckless
excesses that the rest of the world did - that is complete
crap..... We partied as hard, if not harder..... our addiction to
debt makes us just as vulnerable as the rest of the world to the
melt-down in capital markets, and recent profit warnings are only
the early stages in the downturn. Tumbling commodity prices will
only make the trough deeper,.... This week Microsoft's founder,
Bill Gates, said it would be up to 10 years before the economic
woes had passed, while the International Monetary Fund warned it
would be the worse year for global growth since World War II....
Households and smaller business customers, as well as corporations,
are all tied into global credit markets. "It's an issue for every
business and indeed every household out there ... [more]
29 Jan
09 - World trade collapsing - International Monetary Fund:
World trade collapsed by nearly 45 per cent in annual terms in the
final three months of last year, according to new International
Monetary Fund figures that expose the staggering depth of the
global financial crisis. And the IMF has predicted dealing with the
economic storm will force governments to drive their budgets deep
into deficit, indicating that Australia could expect a $35 billion
deterioration in its budget bottom line, The Australian reports.
The bleak assessment, released early this morning, declares the
global economy is in the grip of a "pernicious feedback loop"
triggered by the collapse of credit and stock markets.... [more]
20 Jan
09 - Business borrowing dries up: Business borrowing has
fallen to its lowest level in three years as banks tighten lending
standards, raising fears of a sharp slump in private investment
this quarter. Commercial finance commitments, which include loans
for business and property investment, fell 10.4 per cent for
November, from $31.7 billion to $28.4 billion, figures show. The
gauge of lending has now fallen more than a third from the $50.4
billion high of last January, and total lending in the economy has
fallen 30.7 per cent in the past year. The slump is an indication
of less demand for credit and tighter lending standards from the
banks, which are trying to shield themselves from bad loans and
asset write-downs in the downturn. To make up the shortfall
companies are becoming increasingly reliant on the business
equivalent of a credit card. The proportion of funds drawn down
from pre-approved lines of credit rose to a 12-year high of 62.7
per cent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show. The
lower levels of credit could prompt businesses to slash planned
capital spending, which would weigh on the already tenuous labour
market and limit jobs growth. [more]
20 Jan
09 - Let the bad times roll: the recession they can't wait to
have: It was a night of largesse in the liquidation industry:
the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Australia's state
conference, held in the largest room of the largest party venue in
Sydney. Almost 300 liquidators sat under the six chandeliers
hanging over the zebra-print carpet of the Ivy Room on George
Street. As the champagne flowed, they could not help but smile:
business was good - and expected to get better ……. Figures for the
appointment of external administrators were at a year-long high of
867 last September, when the insolvency practitioners held their
dinner. There were 847 more in October and 1011 in November - up by
more than a third since 2007 …… At Henry Davis York, one of the
largest practices dealing with insolvency law in Sydney, business
is up more than 10 per cent. It has been growing steadily for the
past nine months….. [more]
19 Jan
09 - Budget 'buggered', recession looms in Australia, Access
Economics warns: Australia will go into recession this year
with a budget that's "buggered", forcing Canberra to choose between
its infrastructure priorities and more populist middle-class
welfare and industry bailouts. Leading economic forecaster Access
Economics warns in its quarterly Business Outlook, released today,
that the nation's economic boom will "unwind scarily fast", halving
corporate profits, costing more than 300,000 people their jobs and
blowing out the current account deficit to more than $100 billion,
The Australian reports. "Batten the hatches. This is not just a
recession. This is the sharpest deceleration Australia's economy
has ever seen," the report says. [more]
14 Jan
09 - World economy falls deeper into recession: The world
economy has taken a sharp turn for the worse, with early estimates
showing global output fell more than 4 per cent in the last three
months of last year, with further decline expected over the next
six months. The OECD warned yesterday of a "deep slowdown" in all
major industrial economies and most of the emerging economies,
including China, The Australian reports. [more]
12 Jan
09 - Job ads at recession level: The number of jobs
advertised dropped by nearly a third last year, putting the number
of new positions added by businesses at "recession levels.'' The
ANZ job advertisement survey showed that for the year to December
the total number of job ads fell 30%. For the month, they slumped
9.7%, the lowest since 1999..... [more]
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