Anyone living here in the UK will know of the current issues facing the country with regards to unemployment, it is on the news, radio and in the papers every day and has been pretty much for the past year or so.

According to the National Statistics, the unemployment rate was 6.5 per cent for the three months to January 2009, up 0.5 over the previous quarter and up 1.3 over the year. The number of unemployed people increased by 165,000 over the quarter and by 421,000 over the year, to reach 2.03 million. The unemployment level and rate have not been higher since 1997.

The recession, of course, is not restricted to the UK; in fact it seems to be a lot harder in other countries than we are currently seeing here. In all four corners of the globe, unemployment generally seems to be rising, with some countries reporting a sharp increase in job losses.

We thought we would have a look at some of the key countries around the world and see how badly the recession is affecting them.

USA

Over in the USA, in March 2009 the unemployment rate hit 8.5%, which equates to around 13 million people now unemployed in America. According to the BLS (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Division of Labor Force Statistics ) In March, the number of unemployed persons increased by 694,000 to 13.2 million, and the unemployment rate rose to 8.5 percent.

Spain

The BBC website reported that Spain’s unemployment rate, which was already the highest in the eurozone, hit 13.9% in the last quarter of 2008. In real terms, this meant that around 3.2 million were reported out of work in the later parts of 2008, which will of course have risen in the first quarter of 2009.

Germany

The BBC once again lead the reporting news, with its website informing us that Germany’s unemployment rate rose to 8.6% in March of this year as the global economic downturn continued to tighten its grip on Europe’s largest economy. This equates to 3.4 million people, an increase of 69,000 on the last quarter.

China

One of the leading online newspapers for China, ChinaDaily.com reported that China’s urban registered unemployment rate jumped for the first time in five years to 4.2 percent as of Dec 31, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. They also went on to say that during the fourth quarter of last year, the number of registered jobless urbanites jumped to 8.86 million, 560,000 more than that in the third quarter.

Australia

Australia’s unemployment rate jumped to 5.7% in March from 5.2% the previous month, the biggest monthly rise in 18 years, official figures have shown. This means that the unemployment total increased by 52,900 in March to 650,900. “We predict the peak in the unemployment rate will be between 8 and 9% in the second half of next year,” said Besa Deda, chief economist at St George Bank.

Just by looking at five different countries on four different continents, I think it is clear to see that every country is suffering, with some suffering more than others. Unemployment trends have always been somewhat of mystery if it doesn’t effect the reader, but overall it is quite clear to see that unemployment is up, jobs are down and the amount of businesses closing their doors continues to rise.

And with the news yesterday that some people think it will take to 2012 to recover, now is a great time to look for alternative investments, as these could possibly give you the income to survive the next couple of years.

Not exactly unexpected news this morning, but for the first time since 1997 the UK unemployment rate has risen above two million.

According to the National Statistics Website, the number of jobs in December 2008 was 31.32 million, down 203,000 on the quarter and down 284,000 over the year. This is the largest quarterly fall in jobs since September 1992. Most sectors have shown falls in jobs over the quarter with the largest fall occurring in finance and business services (down 102,000).

They also reported that the unemployment rate was 6.5 per cent for the three months to January 2009, up 0.5 over the previous quarter and up 1.3 over the year. The number of unemployed people increased by 165,000 over the quarter and by 421,000 over the year, to reach 2.03 million. The unemployment level and rate have not been higher since 1997.

Separate reports released by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and CBI have both predicted that unemployment will rise above around three million in the later parts of 2009 and into 2010.

Although the news is not really a massive surprise for any of us, it is a clear indication of the struggle the country is facing with respect to keeping business flowing and people in jobs.

But, we do have to look at the bigger picture in this report. In December 2008, employment was standing around 31.32 million, which is still the large majority of this countries work force in employment. When you look at the figures, they do look worrying and deeply disturbing, but when you take into account that even if the unemployment rate does rise to 3 million next year, will still leave, at this moment in time, 30 million people still in work. Or, out of 100% of the nation’s work force, 92% should still be employed in 2010, if current reports are anything to go by.

When you compare this to other countries, the UK is actually doing quite well, despite recent indications that the UK is going to be hit the hardest by the current recession and economy downfall.

Anybody currently facing redundancy, going through it or looking for a new job after suffering it will of course see things very differently, and quite rightly so, but in the grand scheme of things, well over 20 million people out of a work force of around 25 million people will still be bringing home a wage packet for the rest of the year and beyond.

And with news of various supermarkets and fast food outlets looking to create thousands of jobs within the next few years, we should see a few more of the unemployed being able to find a job, albeit depending in your area and skill set.

Going back a few years now I can remember learning of a new multi-skilling scheme introduced by the powers that be at the enormous Nissan factory near Sunderland in the North East. It began as it always had, in that you would leave school and serve your apprenticeship in a given area of speciality. Up until recent years this was all the learning one would undertake. However, once your apprenticeship has been served they would now encourage further part time training in another two functions, the idea being that work would be more varied & therefore interesting. I’m sure many thought this was brilliant & forward thinking.

So why might I be mentioning this and to what relevance does it have to either investment and/or the current economic climate? Well firstly it comes off the back of another blog I wrote a few days ago regarding the recent buoyancy of the food retail industry so I wanted to diversify my opinions towards an industry that seems to be experiencing the opposite during these harsh times. Do people need to buy food? Of course we do. Do people need to buy cars? No, we do not. Let’s face it, for the majority of us cars are a luxury where as food is a necessity. On this basis the two seem incomparable, but for me both industry sectors had three things in common with the banking sector, being oversight, arrogance and complacency.

We have all known that the cost of oil will rise over the years as it has indeed has done for the last decade. We all know that this will not particularly improve in a hurry either. More and more people such as I living in urban areas fail to see the need to own a car due to the expense and availability of public transport.

In recent months we have seen the likes of Honda announce a halt on production for what will be four months come the end of March. Other manufacturers in the UK such as Vauxhall, Mini & the aforementioned Nissan have initiated other short term closures, the latter also announcing redundancies.

With the European car market showing no signs of recovery, will this just be the beginning for what could become a beleaguered industry in the oncoming quarter(s)? On the day the government announce a second bank bail-out there have been calls in the media for them to follow their example by stepping in to rescue the motor industry also. Personally, I can’t see it.

Yes the recession hasn’t helped at all and this is only too well highlighted by the manufactures of the more ‘top end’ vehicles such as Jaguar/Landrover and Aston Martin who have announced redundancies in addition to production halts at both and also at their rivals, Bentley. Will it stop here? In my food retail article I highlighted the media ‘scare tactics’ by way of their lack of reporting on the acquisitions & investment waiting in the wings but in this case I just can’t see it, the food Retail industry benefiting fortunately by virtue of need.

With seemingly neither private investment forthcoming nor the likelihood of the government stepping in to save the day, I only hope that, in particular for the affected workforce, these companies have learned from the collapse of Rover and have contingencies in place to weather the storm; particularly in the case of Nissan having invested so much in their people. Accusations of oversight, arrogance and complacency are one thing and will be a pivotal factor should things worsen, which will make the oncoming quarters vital to their futures. Where it will really become a key factor is if they hedge their future production plans against the hope that if & when the economy recovers, the industry will follow suit. As oil prices continue to rise & the trains continue to take more of the strain, I’m not convinced it will.

It seems like such a long time ago now, but it was only a matter of a few months ago that Icesave collapsed which plunged many UK savers’ funds into chaos.  Speaking to friends in Reykjavik at the time, they had a collective bleak view of their nation’s economy and were understandably concerned. Therefore it caught my eye flicking through the paper a few days ago when I saw a headline worded something along the lines of “Iceland to the retail crisis rescue”. Hmm, interesting, I thought. Thus I took the time to have a read of this and see what had happened.

Now this you could easily put down to stupidity on my part. However, as someone who neither purchases nor consumes meat products I have not felt the need to enter an Iceland frozen food store for some time! Indeed it was not the country that had made the headline in this instance but the retailer, who announced that they had purchased 51 former Woolworths stores creating somewhere in the region of 2,500 jobs.  As a keen media watcher I can remember the pre-Christmas scare stories of Woolworths demise and the job losses that would arise from it, but isn’t it funny that articles regarding this and other possible acquisitions were kept quiet until now when surely they were already in pending and certainly speculative?

So what of other acquisitions? I have also read keenly that the Co-op group have won approval to take over Somerfield, although in the process have been forced to sell 13 of their own stores, with Waitrose waiting in the wings heading the queue to add these to the 9 others they intend to also open in 2009. The articles reporting on these give approximate figures of between 5-6000 new jobs being created in addition to the thousands who will keep their jobs but simply change uniform.

I will watch this with interest, particularly if the Somerfield brand ceases to be. The shopping arcade by where I grew up is dominated by 2 supermarkets on either side, one Co-op and one Somerfield! Competition has been fierce between the two over the decade or so I lived there and even before when Somerfield was Gateway. Now will there be 2 Co-ops instead?

And it doesn’t stop there either. Waitrose are not the only supermarket chain announcing expansion plans. Sainsbury & Tesco will create around 15,000 new jobs between them this year as they too open new stores and no doubt in recognition of the paradigm shift that has seen many people providing the “less reputed” chains with their patronage recently.

And it’s nice to read isn’t it? We’re in the times of doom & gloom are we not? Personally it makes perfect sense. I’ve long been an advocator of the theory that in times of recession and economic difficulty, recession proof industries continue to flourish if investment is achieved. It’s fair to say that there is a degree of recession proofing when one considers the food retail giants in that we must eat! We must buy food!  Therefore these businesses investing in their futures now should not come as any surprise, and as the economy begins to recover it will be these who prosper further.