These unemployment numbers have spread riddles, loaded questions and multiple-interview marathons across the corporate food chain, into mature and less cutting-edge industries.

WSJ: How to Ace a Google Interview

They are a very interesting mix that no one predicted a year ago: Internet-only newcomers, toy outlets, venerable retailers and a cost-cutting megastore chain.

FORBES: A Season For Surprises

This is where all the business travellers stay and is part of a respected, though not exactly cutting-edge, chain - the branch in Peshawar has a famous sign: 'Please leave your guns in the lobby'.

BBC: Welcome to Abbottabad

If a retailer is big enough and powerful enough, it can often dictate that new technology be used along the supply chain to work seamlessly with its own cutting-edge POS system.

BBC: How 'point of sale' became much more than a fancy calculator

And instead of Amazon's all-in-one approach aimed at cutting out the middlemen, Softbank's strategy helps preserve a supply-chain status quo.

CNN: FROM THE WEB

Obama could have proposed a tax credit that would boost the insurance subsidy for low-wage workers while cutting it for those at the top of the food chain.

FORBES: Obama's Cap On Tax Deductions: Not What It Seems

The materials then goes through a multi-tiered supply chain where they are sold and possibly resold several times before reaching facilities that specialize in either cutting and polishing gemstones and diamonds, or turning raw precious metal into jewelry-grade material.

FORBES: All that Glitters is Beauty and Business