Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

Belgian companies, mutualities and employment services should be more proactive in helping people with mental health problems stay in the workplace or find a job, according to a new OECD report.

Bringing remittance prices down to 5 percent from the current 12.4 percent average cost would put US$4 billion more in the pockets of Africa's migrants and their families who rely on remittances for survival.

Two new OECD reports provide wide-ranging evidence of how reforming subsidies and tax breaks for fossil fuels and rationalising fuel taxes can help countries boost finances and meet green objectives.

Groups of consumers and companies will find it easier to take collective legal action against businesses acting in an anti-competitive way under new proposals announced by Competition Minister Jo Swinson today. Included in the measures is a new fast-track regime that will help small businesses fight anti-competitive practices that stifle growth.

Myanmar and the World Bank Group Sunday marked the beginning of a new phase in their partnership to accelerate reforms with the clearance of arrears to the Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The Bank Group is now fully engaged in supporting development programs to benefit all of the people of Myanmar, with financial and technical assistance.

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on last Thursday approved US$87 million to support the Government of Mozambique’s efforts to develop a climate change-resilient economy and scale-up high impact nutrition interventions benefiting over one million Mozambicans.

Glasgow has been given a boost today after it was chosen to receive £24 million of government investment to demonstrate how a city of the future will work. Glasgow beat off competition from 30 other UK cities to host the Technology Strategy Board’s ‘Future Cities Demonstrator’.

Employers took 1,509 mass layoff actions in December involving 137,839 workers as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (Data are seasonally adjusted.) Each mass layoff involved at least 50 workers from a single employer. Mass layoff events decreased by 240 from November, and the number of associated initial claims decreased by 35,040. In December, 330 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing sector resulting in 35,211 initial claims. Monthly mass layoff data are identified using administrative data sources without regard to layoff duration.

U.S. debt ceiling

Director of UNCTAD's Division on Investment and Enterprise James Zhan