Recession in rich countries has discouraged some would-be incomers from trying their luck. America, for instance, has seen a sharp decline in Mexicans trying to cross its southern border. Immigration to Europe has slowed. Some studies also suggest that increased inflows of migrants are a leading indicator of a pickup in growth.

New data on the US economy, including a huge drop in a regional manufacturing survey, has heightened market fears of a new recession.

Japan's unemployment rate fell to a two-year low in February 2011, government data showed. But economists said the rate may rise in the coming months as the devastating earthquake and subsequent power shortages could keep companies from boosting staff.

Unemployment fell sharply for a second straight month in January. Still, many economists find the two-month drop, the largest since 1958, too good to be true and expect it to edge back up in the months ahead.

Germany's economy is fueling the euro region's recovery as declining unemployment encourages consumer demand and companies boost investment, helping counter weaker exports.

A "lost decade" in US employment reflects a change in the structure of the nation's labor market, according to Mohamed El-Erian, CEO at Pacific Investment Management Co.

"However, global economic recovery that started in the second half of 2009 is in danger of slowing down due to macroeconomic problems such as the Euro crisis, continued high unemployment in the US...," said IDC analyst. "In such a scenario, the expected growth in the second half of 2010 may be pushed into early 2011."

The US unemployment rate fell to 9.5% in June 2010 from 9.7% in May. Analysts say that high unemployment has kept consumer confidence low, preventing retail sales from growing rapidly.

Protesters in Taiwan's capital scuffled with police on June 3 and threw chairs at an official building where discussions were under way on a proposal for a referendum on a planned trade pact with China. The administration of President Ma Ying-jeou has been pushing for the pact, known as the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, saying it will boost growth and employment.

The unemployment rate across the 16-nation eurozone hit 10% in February 2010, the first time it has reached double figures since the euro was introduced.

Last month's unemployment rate stayed steady at 9.7%, the same as in January, and lower than December's rate of 10%.

The number of people registering as unemployed in Spain continued to rise in February 2010, as the recession which began with a collapsing housing market spread further into other sectors.

Japan's unemployment rate fell below 5% for the first time in a year in January 2010, as strong exports fed into a strengthening economic recovery.

Putting all this into long-term perspective, the current problem offers a glimpse of the likely more massive labor shortage issue that China is set to face in the next few decades as its single-child policy keeps accelerating the aging of its still-enormous population.

Meeting that goal would require the president to engage in a fight to the death with the liberal wing of his own party, persuade China to allow its currency to appreciate 40%, get global economic growth to outperform the salad days from 2003 to 2007, and lower taxes for American companies that do business abroad. And, while he is at it, forget about strengthening the dollar in the foreseeable future.

Vacuum technology firm Edwards is to cut 220 jobs in Sussex as it locates all its manufacturing operations overseas. The move marks a shift in strategy for the Crawley-headquartered company that had previously trumpeted its strong UK manufacturing base, which dates back to 1919.

To be fair, 2009 was a year that defied prediction. Who would have thought the stock market would drop like a stone until early March and then abruptly rise like a rocket?

The increase in GDP has not translated into jobs yet because of firms' strong tendency to work each employee harder early in a recovery before hiring more of them.

A Spansion spokesperson said through a prepared statement that a "small restructuring" took place at Spansion on October 26. The layoff was "necessary to better prioritize and align the company's resources with its business goals and emergence from Chapter 11," according to the statement.

The Obama administration has made increasing US exports a key part of its strategy to reduce unemployment and is moving on several fronts to do that, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has said.

GTM Research says boom in US solar manufacturing to create 20,000 jobs between 2009 and 2012.

Yukio Hatoyama on September 16 took office as prime minister and named a cabinet, promising to bring change to the country mired in stagnation after a half-century of virtually uninterrupted, one-party rule.

Google chief economist Hal Varian is pretty confident the US economy is recovering, and he's not just basing that on government data.

A slow and still-fragile recovery is taking hold across the US.

The picture painted by the report is varied, but the general pattern is one of fewer people moving to foreign countries for work. For example, there was a sharp decline in the number of Mexicans moving to the United States.

Japan's unemployment rate rose to a record 5.7% in July in figures released just days before a general election.

The Chinese authorities in July predicted 8% growth for 2009, thanks to a four trillion yuan (US$585 billion) economic stimulus plan. But the global downturn has still put millions of Chinese out of work.

South Korea's unemployment rate hit a three-month high in June as the prolonged downturn discouraged companies from hiring workers.

Japan's jobless rate rose to its highest level in nearly six years in May as manufacturers continued to cut jobs despite better conditions for the corporate sector here.

Fresh signs of weakness in the US job market have underlined the strains on a recession-struck US economy that contracted slightly less in the first quarter than previously thought.

Colorado gained jobs in "clean energy" industries twice as fast as the state's job-growth rate as a whole in the 10 years ending in 2007, according to a study.

The construction project is expected to take approximately two years to complete and an additional 12 to 18 months to ramp to full operating mode, with volume production anticipated in roughly 2012.

Once completed, Globalfoundries' Fab 2 project is expected to create more than 6,400 direct and indirect jobs in the region.

The pace of decline in the job market eased again in May, a survey has shown, with permanent placements falling at the slowest rate for ten months.

Japan's factory output has jumped at its fastest rate in more than 50 years, but higher unemployment figures have dampened hope of an early recovery.

Hong Kong's Census and Statistics Department said the seasonally adjusted jobless rate rose to 5.3% during February to April from 5.2% recorded in January to March.

US unemployment climbed to 8.9% in April, its highest level in a quarter of a century, as the economy shed more than half a million jobs, official figures have showed.

The pace of US job losses may be slowing, according to two private reports.

Spain's unemployment rate hit 17.4% at the end of March, figures have shown, with the jobless total now having doubled over the past 12 months."It is a terrible figure," Octavio Granado, secretary of state for social security told state television.

Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso announced a historic US$150 billion stimulus package Friday aimed to turn around the recession in the world's second-largest economy.