China is TERRIFIED Of Its Youth

 The Chinese Communist Party is terrified of its youth, especially unemployed youth. Right now, China's high youth unemployment rate is making headlines, and the government is really worried. In this episode of China Uncensored, we look at why China's college graduation rates are so high, why that's led to so much unemployment, and why the CCP is making it worse by shaming those with degrees for not wanting to do manual labor.

Hunger, poverty and unemployment: How coronavirus reveals inequalities

Millions of people are at risk of hunger because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even in the US and Europe, more and more individuals are relying on food handouts just to get by as the coronavirus crisis hits their livelihoods.
 

Poorest areas in England suffering high rises in unemployment

People living in parts of England which had the highest levels of child poverty before the coronavirus pandemic have now been revealed as suffering some of the biggest rises in unemployment.

Coronavirus: US in crisis as 33m Americans lose their jobs

More than 33 million Americans have lost their jobs in the past 7 weeks, roughly 1 in 5 of the workforce. It is a devastating turnaround for a country whose jobless rate was at a 50 year low just 8 weeks ago. Meanwhile France will begin lifting what has been one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe on Monday. Most businesses will reopen and people will be allowed to leave home without a permit.

30 million Americans have filed for unemployment since mid-March

First-time claims for unemployment benefits totaled 3.8 million in the week ending April 25, after factoring in seasonal adjustments, according to the US Department of Labor. The adjustments accounted for around 300,000 claims.

What does coronavirus unemployment mean for the future of work in the US?

The spread of the coronavirus has resulted in a record level of unemployment in the United States. Twenty-six million people have registered as jobless in the US in the past five weeks, a huge increase in unemployment that harks back to the Depression era of the 1930s.

Coronavirus warning: economy could shrink by 35% with unemployment rising to 2 million - BBC News

There's a new warning that the coronavirus pandemic could have a devastating impact on the UK's economy. The Office for Budgetary Responsibility, the government's independent economic watchdog, says that if the lockdown lasts for 3 months the economy could shrink by 35% and unemployment could rise to 10% meaning two million people would be out of work. The Chancellor Rishi Sunak said he was "deeply troubled" by the figures.

Why the rise of the robots won’t mean the end of work

Recent advancements in artificial intelligence and robotics have commentators worrying about the coming obsolescence of the human worker. Some in Silicon Valley are even calling for a basic minimum income provided by the government for everyone, under the assumption that work will become scarce. But many economists are skeptical of these claims, because the notion that the the economy offers a fixed amount of work has been debunked time and time again over the centuries and current economic data show no signs of a productivity boom. Fortunately, we don't need to divine the future of the labor market in order to prepare for it.

The End of China Inc?

As time is running out for China to pay off its bad debts, 101 East investigates if this could be the end of China Inc.

There's a magic formula to becoming a millionaire in China - borrow big to earn big.  

For years, individuals, state-owned companies and municipalities have taken massive loans to chase the Chinese dream.

Now it's payback time, but a severe economic slowdown means many are struggling to pay their debts.

Entire neighbourhoods have become "ghost towns", industrial companies sit idle and the unemployed are growing desperate.

Government economists claim China has enough in its coffers to cover the bad loans, but defaulting on it could send the world's economy into a tailspin.

When Taliban offer you gold: Afghan youth in crisis?

Afghan job seekers, business leaders, and CEO Abdullah Abdullah give an insight into Afghanistan's grim job market.



Among the hundreds of thousands of refugees entering Europe a significant number is made up of young men from Afghanistan. Last year, more than 100,000 Afghans fled to Europe and the exodus continues.

But why are so many Afghans leaving their home country?

In Kabul's Kote Sangi neighbourhood, painters, carpenters, plasterers, and other manual workers sit outside waiting for someone to come by and hire them, even if only for a few hours.

This scene is replicated throughout the Afghan capital as thousands of casual workers hope to earn a dollar or more a day, the desperation etched on many faces. But their chances aren't good. These men don't have the family or the political connections often needed to get a job. And Afghanistan's unemployment rate is estimated to be at 40 percent or higher.

The Tech Threat

Are advances in artificial intelligence, robotics and other technologies leading to fewer jobs and more inequality?



By Bob Abeshouse

The United States and other developed countries are in the midst of a digital revolution that may be even more profound than the industrial revolutions of the past. Advances in robotics, cognitive computing and other digital technologies promise untold benefits in a world of leisure hard to imagine. But there is also a dark side to this technological change. It could lead to joblessness for most and extreme inequality, threatening economic health and political stability.

Tension over rising inequality and a lack of good-paying middle class jobs is growing in Silicon Valley and nearby San Francisco, the epicentre of computerisation and the information economy. In San Francisco, buses for Google, Facebook and other companies ferry high-paid tech workers to their jobs in Silicon Valley. This allows tens of thousands to live in the city, fuelling popular anger over gentrification and high housing prices that are pushing longtime residents out.

Dark side of Japan revealed in film about Internet cafe living

Before Junichiro Koizumi was elected Prime Minister employment in Japan was stable, with a majority of those seeking full time work finding and those holding part time or temporary positions were either high school or university students the culture of temporary work and contracts didn't exist and then Japan's labor laws were amended in 2004 and the a large portion of the work force became temporary workers.  While the situation wasn't great, people were able to survive.

That changed with the 2008 financial crisis. Suddenly all those temporary workers became redundant and with it came an unstable and  untenable employment climate.  Which led to the birth of the internet culture which exists in Japan today.  Low wages and poor working conditions will do that.

The bleak and unforgiving existence of Japan's salarymen and part-time workers, who often live in Internet cafes to save on rent, is difficult to describe, but one filmmaker has done a great job of giving us a brief peek.
Net Cafe Refugees is a short 10-minute documentary that plunges the viewer into the world of 24-hour Internet-connected cubicles that serve as makeshift living spaces for many Japanese living on the edge of society.

If you've ever wondered if some of those film depictions of futuristic, dystopian cities will ever come to fruition, you need look no further than the dark, broadband-connected caves shown in director Shiho Fukada's film.

One part-time construction site worker is shown spending his time between monotonous work shifts and Internet cafe existence by chain smoking and staring listlessly at a computer screen surrounded by black walls draped with wires. Another man admits that he has lived in an Internet cafe for four months, after quitting his job as a computer systems manager at a credit card company.