Liberia’s forests fall within one of the world’s threatened biodiversity “hotspots.”

But as Worldfocus contributing blogger Myles Estey describes, for many Liberians looking to earn a living by logging, environmental preservation is not always a top priority.

Liberia turned down an interesting offer last week. Basically, a consortium of Western ‘partners’ offered to pay Liberia millions of dollars to not ratify several forestry contracts, themselves worth millions. The Liberian speaker of the house was reported to have called the offer a joke, saying, ultimately, that Liberians need jobs, not money.

This may be a fair assessment, but it did not seem like the full purpose of the offer was really considered.

[...] Despite being a country known for its ‘blood timber’ during the war, Liberia holds a massive share of the largely untouched Upper Guinean Rainforest, a precious, and increasingly rare commodity around the world.

This is valuable in a way that is difficult to sometimes rationalize in a country with an unemployment rate of 85%, and a desperate need for jobs: telling rural workers that they cannot have a job because of a global crisis involving the a substance in the air does not translate.

Of course, as UK-based environmental watchdog Global Witness raised in a report last week, these jobs offer a lot [more] shorter term benefits than virgin forests, and almost always, provide significantly less (in jobs, pay, and local benefits such as schools, clinics and infrastructure) than promised in their contracts.

Looking at other international companies involved in natural resources within Liberia, its not hard to see the dangers. Firestone, the largest employee, had to be dragged kicking and screaming last August in order to raise wages to $3.78 / day, plus a modest bonus for production, and to reduce their hours and quotas that were encouraging child labour until 2008. [...]

International forestry companies will offer similarly meager salaries for the dangerous, grueling work of equatorial forestry, and, many fear, will avoid responsibilities to the impoverished local communities.

Along with concerns raised by Global Witness and others about the track records of the companies involved in the proposed operations, and the legitimacy of some of the contracts, ample questions remain.

Does providing $5 / day jobs to hundreds of Liberians actually outweigh the benefits of preserving a virgin rainforest? Will the Liberian government be able to hold the international companies to task on their promises? How much of the proposed millions of dollars per year will actually remain in Liberia?

USAID has been working hard with the FDA (Forest Developmental Authority) to create truly revolutionary regulations for forestry here, including barcoded trees and logging strategies that look towards long term forest health. Making sure this happens will be another story of navigating bribes, failed promises and assessments (that may or may not have taken place).

Weighing environmental benefits against the need for economic growth is never easy. And this problem gets magnified in a country routinely exploited by the international companies they depends on for the capital and overhead needed to even start these operations in the first place.

With virgin forests becoming an increasingly rare resource around the world, greater debate should occur regarding the importance of both the forest and the trees, and how they can offer the maximal, long-term benefits to Liberia.

To read more, see the original post.

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user The Advocacy Project under a Creative Commons license.

For more on the issue of rape in Liberia, watch the Worldfocus signature stories “Former child soldiers, sex slaves recover from Liberia’s war” and ”Liberian women occupy front lines of war on sexual violence.”

Tania Bernath, a researcher for Amnesty International, joins Martin Savidge to discuss efforts to combat rape and sexual violence in Liberia and other post-conflict countries, as well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s scheduled visit to Africa next week.

A Liberian boy tackles a coconut.

As the second half of 2009 begins, global stock markets have rebounded. But this may mask much of the pain still being felt around the world, as unemployment remains a huge problem.

Japan’s 5.2 percent unemployment rate is one of its highest since the end of World War II, while in Spain, unemployment has surged past 18 percent. But these figures pale in comparison to those in Liberia, where the vast majority of people — up to 85 percent — are unemployed.

Worldfocus contributing blogger Myles Estey is in Monrovia, Liberia, and describes how people get by without formal employment.

Gettin’ By

As the United States and Canada start to freak out that their unemployment rates approach the double digits, officially, Liberia’s unemployment rate remains, on paper, as 85 percent. Almost, but not quite, making it an inverse relationship.

The CIA Factbook uses this 85 percent stat, and I think everyone else cites it and throws it around like its an iron-clad stat. Its not.

While Liberia certainly lacks locations for official, regulated employment, that only 15 percent of the population works is an absurd assumption, and one that would be practically unattainable. While severe poverty is rampant, Liberians are not starving to death. Reason being, that as in any society where basic infrastructure has been destroyed, people find a way to get by.

They fill in the gaps of people’s needs, finding small ways to deliver goods and services to the population at large. ‘Git my hustle on,’ as many say.

In this hustle, profit margins are wafer thin. Full days of work often produce just a few dollars, which in turn often gets spread out to family and friends in need.

During my eight months of living here, and poking around at all levels of society, I still remain fascinated by the micro-economy. So, I have been collecting info about how many people manage to ‘get their daily bread’ - another ism. [I will] feature some of the professions that interest me the most. [...]

Profession: Coconut Seller

Location: Roaming

How it works: Coconuts come to Monrovia packed into trucks and cars from villages all around the country. The outer husks have been hacked off with machetes, to reduce size and weight. Sellers are generally old women, who carry up to 25 or 30 on their head (which is psycho heavy), or young men who can carry up to 80 in wheelbarrows.

Every seller carries a machete, allowing them to split the coconuts for anyone who stops them as they walk through the streets. They wait patiently as buyers drink, split the coconut to access the meat, take the empty shell, and move on.

Cash: Street sellers buy them wholesale for around $10 LD ($0.14 US), or ‘2 for 15′ [$LD] at spots around the city. Coconuts generally retail for $20 LD. Meaning that to make a dollar, 7 coconuts must be sold - roughly 15 pounds of weight.

Variables and Dangers: Insanely sore neck, machete wounds.

Net Profit: For female sellers, they rarely earn $ 5 US /load. Some will take more than one load per day, but it is rare, as they often have families to tend to, and business can be slow.

Wheelbarrow men can earn over $10 US/day, but this kind of profit demands a 10 hour day.

Point of Reference: used T-shirt sold on the street costs $ 1 - 3 US

To read more job profiles, follow Myles Estey’s blog.

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user usnico under a Creative Commons license.

The Worldfocus signature series on Liberia’s Long Road Back featured uplifting stories on African women making a difference.

Though a common saying about news is “if it bleeds, it leads,” Martin Savidge shares some of the more cheery stories that have uplifted the world recently, including Worldfocus’ signature series on Liberia’s Long Road Back. 

When times are bad we all yearn for good news.

This week had plenty. Two stories in particular dominated: A courageous crew and a singing Scot.

The actions of the crew of the Maersk Alabama — and particularly the selfless offer of Captain Richard Phillips to be taken hostage to protect his ship from Somali pirates — inspired many of us. We followed the drama and his daring rescue. For days, network news programs tracked the crew’s return and swarmed to exclusively interview them. Now, a similar quest will no doubt spoil the weekend of many reporters as they head to Vermont to try and get the first words from the captain himself as he arrives back home.

For many people, the shots of the Navy snipers were welcomed, seen as the first concrete action after months of frustration as the pirates hijacked ship after ship. It went down the way many Americans prefer: Fast and precise, with only the bad guys getting hurt. Unfortunately, those are not likely to be the last shots in this conflict at sea. In fact it may well trigger a new level of violence…but let’s stick with the good news.

Then there was Susan Boyle of Scotland. I dare anyone to watch that clip of her on YouTube from “Britain’s Got Talent” and not get teary. Thanks to the Internet, the woman who proclaimed she had never been kissed is now loved by many throughout the world. I think I’ve watched her song half a dozen times, and each time I cheer.

When she first walks on stage, we see so many of life’s knock-downs and stigmas reflected in her. Though we are raised to “never judge a book by its cover,” we did. She was a middle-aged, plain Jane who seemed a bit quirky. In our modern-day zeal to instantly peg a person, we had her nailed…until she sang. Her first notes shamed us and the rest lifted us to our feet.

I saw those two stories everywhere.

But only on Worldfocus did I see a week long series by Lynn Sherr from Liberia on the triumphs of women who are working to lift that once war-torn country.

From President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female leader, to the market women who spawned a movement that helped to force former dictator Charles Taylor into exile, to the former girl soldiers and sex slaves of the civil war now are trying to forget their past and start new futures. Lynn introduced us to all of them, and in doing so, taught us much about a continent we thought we knew.

Most Americans think of Africa as a land of endless disease, war and famine. Our signature stories showed that this stereotype is wrong. Liberia inspires and teaches that the United States does not lead in all areas. In fact we ranked 56th of 130 countries [PDF] in the World Economic Forum’s 2008 survey of female political empowerment — trailing behind Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania.

These are the stories we love to bring to viewers…they inform and uplift.

It’s good news, and we know there’s a whole world of it out there.

- Martin Savidge

When Jackie Redd was 14, she was forced to join the NPFL (National Patriotic Front of Liberia), a rebel group. She was raped and forced to be the “wife” of three men for 11 years, until she escaped in 2001.

Jackie is now speaking out. She is trying to start a support center called the “One Help One Center for War Affected Women” to provide care and training for women who are trying to recover from the war. She has also been working with Amnesty International and is the subject of a documentary about war-affected women.

Some of the biggest victims of that era were young women who were often taken prisoner and forced to fight, or made into sex slaves. As Worldfocus special correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson report, many of them are now struggling to recover and struggling to forget.

For more on the rehabilitation and reintegration of child soldiers, watch PBS Wide Angle’s film on child soldiers in Uganda, “Lord’s Children.”

Worldfocus special correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson venture to Liberia and meet some women on the front lines of what’s become a war on sexual violence.

Watch more videos from this series and read blogs from the field: Liberia’s Long Road Back.

For more on efforts to combat sexual violence in Africa, watch Rape as a weapon of war in DR Congo.

While producing the the signature series “Liberia’s Long Road Back,” Worldfocus producer Megan Thompson had a chance to witness the holiday at a cemetery in Monrovia.

Over the past several decades, women politicians have made strides in Africa. The share of parliamentary seats held by women increased from 7 percent in 1990 to 17 percent in 2007.

The Rwandan parliament is a world leader in terms of female political participation, with 56 percent of its seats held by women. Liberia now has Africa’s first elected woman president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Watch Worldfocus’ signature story and an extended interview with Sirleaf: Africa’s first elected female president lifts Liberia.

But this heightened gender equality in government has not necessarily translated into equality in everyday life for the majority of African women, who still face disproportionate poverty, violence and challenges in accessing education.

Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explored the political, economic and social implications of the rise of women power players in Africa.

Thank you for your questions. Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosted a panel of guests:

Micheline Ravololonarisoa is the chief of the Africa Section at the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). She has more than 25 years of experience as a sociologist, feminist and activist specializing in African development and women’s issues. Micheline began her activist career with a student movement in her native Madagascar and was forced to leave the country in 1974 because of this work. She has served as program director at the Agency for Cooperation Research and Development (ACORD) and remains a member of several African and international women’s networks, including Akina Mama wa Afrika and ABANTU for Development.

Lynn Sherr is an award-winning journalist and author who has contributed to Worldfocus reports from Liberia, Guatemala, Mexico and Nicaragua. She is a former correspondent with ABC’s “20/20″ and covered a wide range of stories, specializing in women’s issues and social changes, as well as investigative reports. Lynn is the author of “Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words” and “Tall Blondes.”

Aili Mari Tripp is a professor of political science and women’s studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the director of the Women’s Studies Research Center. Her research has focused on women and politics in Africa, women’s movements in Africa, transnational feminism, African politics (with particular reference to Uganda and Tanzania), and on the informal economy in Africa. She is co-author of “African Women’s Movements: Transforming Political Landscapes” and author of “Women and Politics in Uganda” and “Changing the Rules: The Politics of Liberalization and the Urban Informal Economy in Tanzania.”

See related Worldfocus videos and blogs:

Women rank high in Rwanda’s government

Africa’s first elected female president lifts Liberia

Liberian summit celebrates African women with laughter

Women’s movement transforms post-war Liberia

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Nicole E. Foster and Katie Combs

Worldfocus special correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson report on a movement that helped to drive a dictator from power and gave women the kind of opportunities they could never have dreamed of.

For more from Lynn Sherr, listen to our online radio show on African women in power. 

Watch more videos from this series and read blogs from the field: Liberia’s Long Road Back. 

Also watch for PBS Wide Angle’s showing of “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” next year.

Liberia was settled by freed American slaves, and now, as Worldfocus special correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson report, Liberia is trying to shape an identity it can call its own.

Watch an extended interview with the U.S. ambassador to Liberia: An impatient Liberia confronts high expectations, sacrifice.

Halfway into her first term, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf — an economist educated at Harvard University who won the presidency at age 67 — is leading that recovery.

As Africa’s first elected female head of state, she has taken on corruption, gotten some of Liberia’s debt canceled and rebuilt the army with the help of the U.S.

Worldfocus correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson report on one extraordinary woman trying to remake life in war-torn Liberia. Tune in for Worldfocus’ four-part signature series on Liberia airing the week of April 13.

In this extended interview, Sirleaf discusses the position of women in Liberia, the country’s recovery and relations with the U.S.

Lynn Sherr also interviews Sirleaf at The Daily Beast: Africa’s Powerhouse Prez.

Read producer Megan Thompson’s blog from the field: Liberia rebuilds but fragments of the fighting remain.

Read correspondent Lynn Sherr’s blog from the field: Liberian summit celebrates African women with laughter.

Read more about Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s memoir, ”This Child Will Be Great.”

A woman carries food from an aid organization in Liberia.

Though its civil war ended years ago, Liberia remains politically and economically unstable — and more may suffer as food and fuel prices rise around the world.

Glenna Gordon is a freelance writer and photographer currently based in Monrovia, Liberia. She has reported from Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Rwanda and writes at the “Scarlett Lion” blog about encountering a trio of problems in Liberia: food, money and transportation.

Tryin’ Small

Before I came to Liberia, friends and colleagues warned me that it wouldn’t be easy. It isn’t. But in ways that are different than I expected.

FOOD

Thomas is a nice young man who comes to our house about once a week to wash clothes. On Tuesday, I asked him if he wouldn’t mind picking up a few things for us at the vegetable market. I don’t have time to go and haggle over the price of an avocado every week, and it’s a way for him to earn a little extra money.

He brought three moldy heads of cabbage, tiny onions (not the shallot kind, the picked-before-they-were-fully-mature kind), mushy potatoes already gone bad, instead of a pound of fresh tomatoes about a dozen small jars of tomato paste, and four avocados that won’t be ripe for at least a few weeks.

The best part was when I asked Thomas why he didn’t bring fresh tomatoes, he looked confused, and then asked me if I was referring to the “bush fruit.”

Fifteen dollars later, I plan to give all guests who visit my house over the next few weeks a small jar of tomato paste as a parting gift.

MONEY

There are no ATMs or banks linked to the international banking system in Liberia. That means no Visas, Master Card, Barclays, or any other bank card will get you cash if you stick the piece of plastic in a Liberian ATM. It’s all EcoBank, all the time.

I’ve been trying to get my bank at home to wire money to my EcoBank account. This isn’t easy. I have to fax them a form. There aren’t a lot of working fax machines in Liberia. Since that technology is based on land lines (which there aren’t) and became vogue in a tech era of yore (when Liberia was at war), this is difficult. My boyfriend found one, and faxed the form. The bank won’t accept it because it was a scan, and not a fax. I’m not sure how that happened.

Finally, through only slightly duplicitous means, we got money into our EcoBank account here. I went to the bank yesterday to withdraw. The bank’s computer system was down.

TRANSPORTATION

There isn’t really public transportation in Liberia in any sort of organized way. You can flag down a yellow taxi (literally a falling apart four door small vehicle), squeeze in the back where four people always sit, or in the front, where two people sit next to the driver, and pay about 5 LD for a ride (that’s Liberian Dollars equivalent to about eight American pennies). But, there aren’t enough taxis in town and you might wait up to an hour to catch a ride which may or may not take you where you need to go, since there are also no set taxi routes.

To read more, see the original post.

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Peter Casierunder a Creative Commons license.

The streets of Monrovia. Photo: Megan Thompson

The former executive mansion in Monrovia. Photo: Megan Thompson

Producer Megan Thompson just returned from reporting in Liberia, where she encountered daily reminders of the country’s civil war as Liberia emerges from its past.

In Liberia, we listened to many stories of the 14-year civil war, but we also found stories we didn’t ask for: The hostess whose mother was killed, the driver who said he once painted his face with blood, the government intern whose family was almost slaughtered because a wall surrounded their home (soldiers thought that meant they were rich).

The civil war ended six years ago, but it tore apart this small West African nation. From the balcony of my hotel in downtown Monrovia, I looked out at the former executive mansion — now a shattered shell of a building, pocked with bullet marks and surrounded by trash.

The hotel owner told us that while he fortunately fled to his native Lebanon, about 100 people moved into the hotel to seek refuge from the fighting. That night in my dimly lit room, serenaded by the car horns and cacophony of the streets below, I wondered: Who was hiding in my room? What were their war stories?

Liberia is slowly pulling itself back on its feet and rebuilding. But everywhere you go, fragments of the fighting remain. Under the leadership of President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, electricity and water are being restored, schools are being built and Liberians everywhere are trying to find a way forward, away from the past.

In another sign of change, a brand new luxury resort has just opened on the outskirts of Monrovia. One night at the shiny new bar, the bartender tells us about his mother, also dead. He studies the drink recipe book intently, serious about learning this new trade, and talks about trying to make a future for himself: “You just have to move on.”

- Megan Thompson

Read correspondent Lynn Sherr’s blog post from Liberia: Liberian summit celebrates African women with laughter.

Watch for Worldfocus’ upcoming series on Liberia in the coming weeks.

Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female head of state.

Worldfocus correspondent Lynn Sherr is in Monrovia, Liberia, reporting on how the country is faring following its long civil war. She writes about attending the lively International Colloquium on Women. 

Who says feminists don’t have a sense of humor? The laughter was liberating today in Monrovia, Liberia, where a two-day International Colloquium on Women opened with appropriate pomp, ceremony and wit.

That Liberia could even contemplate such an event in the wake of a 15-year civil war that destroyed the country’s government and infrastructure, and nearly its future, sounds like a very bad joke all by itself. More than 200,000 people died in the fighting; several million more were displaced. The roads are barely passable; bullet holes still make major buildings uninhabitable.

And when one American guest arrived at our downtown hotel past midnight this morning, she was stunned to be escorted to her pitch-dark room by a fellow toting a rifle. She was, of course, perfectly safe.

Still, the rooms are clean and spacious, and the band at the rooftop bar plays a mean rock tune.

After all, Liberia has had a new president since 2006 –- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female head of state, who has brought a new sense of promise to this West African nation and to the entire continent. It is she who dared to convene hundreds of women from around the world to help inspire her own countrywomen.

In the process, she’s made them smile, which is no small feat in this post-conflict country.

During the opening ceremonies, a young Liberian girl participating in a pageant of famous women in history charmed the house with her portrayal of Rosa Parks, the American who woman whose refusal to sit in the back of the bus helped start the civil rights movement.

Another Liberian participant brought down the house when she announced herself as “the richest woman in the world.” Who knew Oprah Winfrey would show up?

Actually, it wasn’t a house at all, but a leafy-roofed, open-air shelter in the center of SKD (for Samuel Kay Doe, one of Johnson-Sirleaf’s less beloved predecessors) Stadium, a recently refurbished arena that seems to be tolerating the foreign guests reasonably well. No plates in the lunch line? No problem; they’re washed and dried in just a minute. No spaces in the conference? Stand by –- a stack of chairs is brought in.

Plenty of stacks were needed for a riotous session late this afternoon during which two teams of extremely distinguished female African dignitaries entertained the packed hall with a tongue-in-cheek debate on whether we really need all those women in public office. The debaters –- elected and appointed officials from Sierra Leone, Ghana, Zimbabwe and other countries –- maintained a spirited dialogue, whose tone was set by moderator Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, co-founder and executive director of the African Women’s Development Fund.

“Throwing shoes is acceptable,” she announced at the start of the festivities, “as long as they are size tens and Manolo Blahniks.”

Tomorrow, it’s down to more serious business. If, that is, there is anything more serious than being able to laugh at yourself.

- Lynn Sherr

Watch for Worldfocus’ upcoming series on Liberia in the coming weeks. 

Photo courtesy of Flickr user World Economic Forum  under a Creative Commons license.

Rumor and superstition surrounds water in Liberia.

Liberia’s water supply was crippled during the country’s civil war when the main water treatment plant was destroyed. A 2006 report found that the majority of Liberian rely on untreated wells, rivers, ponds, creeks and swamps for drinking water.

But the water supply, already crippled by war, has been further harmed by widespread superstition and rumors.

Myles Estey is a journalist based in Monrovia, Liberia. He writes at “Esteyonage” about a recent scare there, when people became worried that the water would turn into blood.

Blood water

Last night, two things startled me. The first was Nigerian-manned tanks rolling past my house as I stayed up late typing - tanks are rarely a sign of a good thing. The second came waking at 3:45, only to see the bridge outside my house full of with people, and people filing under my balcony.

The bridge, most people say, should not be crossed by foot anytime after 11, and certainly not past midnight. A little surprising then that a line of people streamed across the bridge, under some of the only streetlamps in the country, and that many seemed to be women and children, not typical Also strange that most of them carried the 5-gallon water jugs that people collect their water from local wells in (running water remains rare). I struggled to come up with a reason for any of this, before drifting back to sleep, listening to the wind and a light rain that started.

This hazy memory remained lay buried until speaking with some reporters. It became clear that a ‘crisis’ gripped the city yesterday. A ‘report’ circulated, claiming that all the city’s water supplies would turn to blood by morning, though other variations claimed the water would become bitter, or perhaps dry up. People acted quickly, with reports of long lines all night at wells becoming especially feisty as dawn approached.

Origins of the report seem mixed. Truth FM definitely aired the first story about it during the day, but they were responding to already widespread knowledge, and callers comments. It spread ‘virally’, in 2.0 terminology, though without any more technology than word of mouth/cell phone. Brothers called sisters called cousins called friends called coworkers all through the night, with virtually everyone aware of the problem by dawn. Many residents stocked up with water.

“People here just believe anything,” a local journalist said of the situation. “They believe in powers and forces that don’t actually exist, just because someone told them so.”

To read more, see the original post.

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user MikeBlyth under a Creative Commons license.

Workers sit on the steps of a hotel in Qinghai, China.

As the U.S. deals with the fallout of the financial crisis, unemployment claims have reached historic highs. But citizens around the world are increasingly finding themselves out of a job. The global financial crisis could increase world unemployment by an estimated 20 million people.

Liberia has one of the world’s highest unemployment rates at about 85 percent. The country is still recovering from the effects of a civil war that ravaged the country for decades. Blogger “Micahel Donkor” writes about the despair of Liberians and refugees who have returned to the country only to find themselves jobless.

Spain has Europe’s highest unemployment rate at 11.3 percent. The “Megaspora” blog promotes a radical change to the country’s unemployment benefits system.

The UK unemployment rate is now skyrocketing at the fastest rate in over a decade, and currently sits at about 5.7 percent. The “Pbleepd” blog writes about the lack of prospects for new graduates.

Italy’s unemployment is expected to rise over the next year. An article in The Christian Science Monitor compares the Spanish and Italian tactics against illegal immigration — a point of contention when it comes to the status of job markets in both countries.

Though unemployment in Sweden has been declining since 2004, the recent economic downturn has sent the rate rising. The “Reflections on Sweden” blog writes about hardship in the Swedish job market.

Iraq’s violence may have dropped, but its unemployment rate continues to soar. As PBS’s “Wide Angle” reported earlier this year, options are limited for even the most skilled of Iraqi workers, and the country’s middle class is dwindling.

Qatar has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the Middle East. A blogger at “Qatar Living” praises the country’s management amid economic gloom.

About 2.5 million people in India are unemployed. Recently, workers of India’s Jet Airways protested the firing of 1,100 employees. As Reuters’ India blog describes, the protests struck a chord with the struggling middles class in India. India’s central bank is expected to strike next week.

Today, Chinese workers are protesting the closure of three large toy factories — which put about 6,500 people out of work. Fresh graduates from China’s schools also face daunting prospects. A blogger in nearby Singapore writes about an influx of American and British banking professionals into the Asian market.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Kees & Sarah under a Creative Commons license.