Labour market trends in the wake of the Great Recession

ECONOMIC contraction has ceased in North America, Europe and developed Asia, and most of the advanced industrialised countries are poised for positive gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2010. China and India, whose economies decelerated under the impact of the global downturn, have resumed strong growth paths.

Manufacturing activity is quickening in response to increasing demand for durable goods. Consumer confidence is rising, while major stock exchanges are posting impressive gains. Battered real estate markets have begun to rebound from the collapse of housing prices. And global financial markets have pulled back from the brink of what many analysts believed would be a 1930s-type implosion.