Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a human-resources consultancy, says the proportion of American employers implementing either wage cuts or furloughs has risen sharply since October (see chart 1).
It now educates a smaller proportion of its 15- to 19-year-olds than it did in 1995 (see chart), a dubious accolade shared only by France among the 30 OECD members.
This partnership, mainly with private employers, allows the state to provide no more than a basic income for pensioners, representing a much smaller proportion of average earnings for most retired people than in America or European countries like France (see chart 2).
Part of the positive trend in the chart above is that companies born in those challenging bubble years have been exiting and now represent a smaller proportion of the exit universe.