Economic Indicators

If top-end executive recruitment is any sort of barometer of economic trends, then news that business is picking up for the world's headhunters is welcome sign that we are finally moving out of recession.

More than half of the large American companies that reduced their staffing levels over the past year plan to rebuild their workforces to pre-recession levels by the middle of 2012.

More than half of Americans have experienced some sort of work-related fallout as a result of the recession, a far greater proportion than those who appear in official statistics as out of work or under-employed.

Want to understand the not-so-looming debt catastrophe that Europe has got itself into? This gem courtesy of Australian-based satarist John Clarke hits the nail on the head.

Despite the continuing downturn, there are executive jobs out there - if you know where to look. One in five companies globally are creating new executive-level jobs while more than half are looking for new hires to fill existing roles.

For all the talk of an economic recovery, has the outlook improved as far as the jobs market is concerned? As far as many of America's CEOs are concerned, it seems that the jury is still out.

According to the hype of the past few years, the information revolution means we are better informed than ever before. But the reality is that computerisation based on bogus assumptions has led to an intensification and acceleration of ignorance.

The financial crisis that many believe we have just come through is one of those episodes in history after which nothing quite remains the same. The trouble is, policymakers and economists have fundamentally misdiagnosed their responses to it.

Real economic recovery can't come until the million or so U.S workers who have lost their jobs and given up all hope of finding another can be tempted back into the jobs' market.

Chief executives appear to be increasingly confident that they can begin moving out of survival mode and start priming their businesses for a return to growth.

CEOs the world over are confident that the worst of the recession has passed and that their businesses – and their headcounts – will grow during 2010. But what lessons have they learned from the crisis?

Despite the economic turmoil, entrepreneurial activity in the US actually increased in 2008 compared to 2007, although new ventures tend to be smaller and the risks of failure greater.

Is China an economic miracle or a disaster waiting to happen? That depends who you ask.

Will we start to see a real recovery the global jobs market in the last quarter of 2009? If the latest survey data is anything to go by, the answer depends very much on where you're located.

There are encouraging signs that the US jobs market is finally picking up as a new survey finds that more than half of employers are planning to hire full-time employees over the next year.

Companies whose growth strategies did not depend on heavy borrowing are best set to thrive as the economy recovers, a new report suggests. And many of these are Indian or Chinese.

Assuming the economic recovery does not get blown off course, most American managers could be looking forward to pay rises and bonuses again next year.

Rather than starting to move beyond recessionary cost-cutting, we may be on the brink of an era of permanent cut-backs where companies have to earn the right to grow.

With new research suggesting that it may be 2013 before we start to see any significant upturn in employment, middle-aged managers in their 40s and 50s will remain especially vulnerable to the axe.

No one expects the next six months to be easy, but in a sign that the economy may be picking up, confidence among U.S chief executives has improved sharply.

From Southern California, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune tells us that job security is taking a hit. No kidding!

The number of organisations with their backs to the wall and fighting for survival seems to be on the decrease. But to describe this as an economic recovery is probably still premature.

Half of managers expect the global economy to recover next year. Yet a lack of foresight by European businesses means they risk being left behind by better-prepared Asia-Pacific economies.

Final year students and graduates should enjoy their last few weeks of college life while they can. Because finding a job this summer is going to be very, very hard.

The economic picture may still be grim, but British managers can take heart from signs that when it comes to landing a new job, they are in with more of a chance than many of their contemporaries elsewhere.

Confidence may gradually be returning but, when it comes to jobs, organizations can still expect to be saying goodbye to many more valued employees over the coming weeks and months.

Business leaders are becoming cautiously optimistic that the worst of the recession may be behind us – and they may even soon start hiring people again.

Pinch yourself, it may even be true. Some business leaders, bankers, politicians and members of the public are starting to feel a little more optimistic about the economy.

In another sign of the times, I came across this article about debt collectors trying to reach out to clients (isn't that a nice way of putting it?) at their place of business in order to collect on late payments.

With fear of redundancy now gripping many workplaces, more and more of us are prepared to put up with unacceptable behaviour from managers. But that still doesn't mean it is the right way to act in the long run.

Organisations may still be desperate to cut costs, but there are signs that many have now completed their wave of mass layoffs and redundancies - for now at least.

Yes we all know things are bad, but with two thirds of CEOs confident their revenues will increase this year and more than nine out of 10 optimistic about the three-year picture, perhaps we need to stop being so gloomy.

Firms large and small and on both sides of the Atlantic are looking at shorter working weeks and reduced hours as a desperate alternative to redundancies.

Can it get any grimmer? With Barclays and Bank of America shedding thousands of jobs, U.S unemployment continuing to rise sharply and even local councils now shedding staff, the answer unfortunately is yes.

As we look to 2009, it's hard to stay positive and hope that the worst is behind us. Personally, in bad economic times, I like to re-focus on my job to make sure that I'm doing the best job I can.

With economic conditions in 2009 set to get even tougher, expect to see a swathe of "mergers of necessity" as companies in financial trouble are snapped up by larger, stronger players.

For any manager who actually got a bonus this year, the best advice is probably "don't spend it all at once, because it may be the last one you get for sometime".

As the stark reality of the global downturn becomes clear, chief finance officers are fundamentally revising their cash-flow forecasts and desperately looking at ways to raise or hang on to cash.

The financial and economic meltdown experienced over the past few weeks may yet have a silver lining, according to one of the UK's most respected economic commentators.

The economic downturn will result in the dominance of Western economies giving way to those of emerging nations such as India and China.

Work-life balance is another casualty of the downturn, with college graduates reporting being pushed to work harder, come in earlier and stay later.

Despite all the warnings, a third of U.S bosses and a fifth of their UK counterparts have sat back and made no contingency plans whatsoever for managing their workforce through the downturn.

Most managers claim that they're bullish about their ability to ride out the economic meltdown – except when they wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.

Now is really not a good time to be working in the US or the UK. I have to say, returning to what Americans like to refer to as "Old Europe" (namely France) may have been my best move in recent memory – even if people around me doubted it for a time.

With the global economic crisis deepening by the day, battening down the hatches to reduce risk has become the number one priority for CFOs and senior managers alike.

After one of the most tumultuous weeks for the international economy since the 1930s, it's no surprise that workers on both sides of the Atlantic are now seriously worried about their jobs.

After years of expecting to waltz into their ideal career, nearly three quarters of American graduates are now seriously worried about their chances of landing a job at all when they leave college.

Managing growth and attracting talent used to be the key priorities for UK managers. But the deteriorating economic climate has brought maintaining cashflow and curbing costs to the top of the agenda.

Organisations in Asia Pacific look set to be least affected by the global downturn, with planning making them better able than their U.S competitors to ride the storm.

In tough times, the temptation is to slash jobs at the first sign of trouble. But knee-jerk cuts can prove more costly - and be more damaging - than trying to hang on to your staff.

British workers returning from their holidays have been greeted with the grim news that two million of them might be redundant by Christmas and many more could have lost their jobs by next summer.

Amid the daily deluge of economic gloom and doom, here's a spark of good news for U.S workers. Pay raises and bonuses look set to be held steady next year.

Job losses are starting to accelerate as the credit crunch, soaring prices and economic downturn move off the financial pages and start to become a reality.

Far from being omnipotent, the "boom generation" of business leaders have been caught unawares by the current downturn and are at a loss as to how they'll respond to it.

Soaring bills, collapsing house prices, tax rises and another grey summer. It's no wonder executives and employers are leaving the UK in droves.

Chronic traffic congestion, tax hikes and the credit crunch is putting at risk London's reputation as a one of the world's most attractive places for doing business.

Half of US workers believe that the American dream of a nice home, financial security for you and your family and hope for the future is now unattainable.

First the good news – senior British managers have seen their earning power increase dramatically this year. The bad news is they are also more likely to be out of a job.

Even wealthy Americans are being hit by the downturn, with the country's elite becoming increasingly concerned about their financial health and their retirement prospects.

More evidence has emerged that Americans are storing up financial problems for the future, with a quarter raiding their pension pots just to make ends meet.