In a world made smaller by instant communication and mass propaganda channels, interdependent economies have become a hard fact, and you cannot stay divorced from the reality. You can stop going out by building a wall, but you can't stop the world from coming in, and this has already been proved by the demise of the Soviet economy, and shredding apart of Stalin's ''iron curtain,'' in the world economic stage. So, thank your stars you are in a country with healthy UI checks and unemployment below 10%, for in Spain, they are battling with an unemployment rate of 20% brought on by the present recession.
The similarity between the U.S. and international economic recession
Immediate realities are pressing, no doubt, but they are not disconnected from realities that are not immediately visible. Many jobseekers and jobless, as well as disenchanted workers fail to realize that the present economic recession is not particular or peculiar to the U.S. but part of a global economic recession affecting all economies in the world.
According to a recent report by the ILO (International Labor Organization), some 30 million jobs have been lost worldwide since 2008, and around 23 million jobs saved or created, but at the cost of growing state debts. The situation or the solution is not isolated in the U.S., but in most developed economies including the European countries, there has been huge job losses, and the situation has been addressed only by government intervention at the cost of taxpayers and growing government debts. The question that remains is how to balance government bankruptcy with a healthy economy, for a healthy national economy with a bankrupt government seems an oxymoron.
According to the International Labor Organization Director General, Juan Somavia, bank rescue policies have meant easy money access for lenders, but banks and financial institutions bailed out by governments have lagged in passing on their savings to the principal job-creating clients – small and mid-sized enterprises. The statement seems to reflect the situation as much of America as of the international scene.
The ILO is of the opinion that it is the duty of banks saved by public money to make their contributions in a manner so that the real economy picks up. The ILO Director General is also of the opinion that during the current recession, corporate profits flowed disproportionately to the rich, while leaving workers in the lurch, and thus inflating the financial bubble.
Unemployment rates in comparative economies
If you were frustrated over the present unemployment rate in U.S. having risen above 9%, it would be good to remember that the unemployment rate in the European Union was 9.9% even back in 1998, while during the same period, U.S. had a meager unemployment rate of 4.5%, and Canada had an unemployment rate of 8.3% according to BLS studies. In April 2010, publicized unemployment rate statistics in the U.S. was 9.9%, but the actual U-6 unemployment rate was 17.1%, though little of the media, except the Wall Street Journal, brought the fact to public notice. While people have remained blissfully oblivious of the facts in the international arena, they have failed to observe that in the last quarter of 2009, the unemployment rate in Spain was 43.8%, and in the European Union, it was more than 10%.
In 2010, mean classical unemployment rates are projected in U.S. at 9.9%, while in France it is 10.5%, 13.3% in U.K., and 20% in Spain. However, small and developed countries with low population show a radically different statistics: Netherlands has 4.4%, Austria has 5.4%, Republic of Korea has 4.1%, Japan has 5%, and even Australia has 5.7% unemployment rate. This has happened in spite of the ILO recognizing that the average U.S. worker works more hours than his or her counterparts in other regions of the world. As remarked by the ILO, the U.S. mortgage and bank crisis triggered of the global recession. Unless the international scene comes into balance, it is difficult for the U.S. to return to normalcy in isolation.
