Japan's doing pretty good: Japan Jobless Rate Hits Record
Published: 8/27/2009 11:34:26 PM By: TradingEconomics.com, Bloomberg

Japan’s unemployment rate rose to a record 5.7 percent in July and deflation worsened, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Taro Aso on the eve of an election that polls indicate his ruling Liberal Democratic Party will lose.

The jobless rate surpassed the previous worst of 5.5 percent last seen in April 2003, the statistics bureau said in Tokyo.

Companies from Toyota Motor Corp. to Japan Airlines Co. are scaling back and cutting jobs as sales weaken at home and abroad. Exports fell 36.5 percent in July, a tenth monthly drop, as demand from all of the nation’s major markets deteriorated.

The unemployment rate is the highest since the government began collecting the data in 1953, a year after the U.S. military occupation ended. The LDP has governed Japan for all but 10 months since 1955.

France's unemployment rate is at 9.8% and climbing.
Germany's unemployment rate is at 8.3% and holding steady on the graphs.
U.K. is at 7.8%, showing a steady increase on the trend.
Canada is at 8.7% and steady to slightly increasing on the trend.
U.S. is at 9.7%, steady to slightly increasing on the trend.

From gohardley: "Well, we could just start with the European Union. Most of them have already ended their recession. Japan seems to be doing pretty good. Canada also seems pretty content."

Oh yeah. Looks like everyone is doing just fine.......

As the French would say, "Imbecile!"