Unemployment Is The New Crisis
White House economic adviser Larry Summers summed it up nicely when he said the U.S. is experiencing a "statistical recovery and a human recession." Even though economic output is again growing in most countries, and credit markets and corporate profits have stabilized, that good news often hasn't translated into jobs for individuals, especially in the developed world. The youth unemployment rate in Spain is 42% — a figure that came up time and again at Davos. Another topic of much discussion: how populism is on the rise in certain industrialized nations like the U.S. and U.K. The fear expressed at Davos was that if job creation doesn't come soon, politicians reacting to frustrated electorates may next move on to trade protectionism and anti-immigration measures — policies that don't help economies in the long run.