International

29-April 2009

Sweden
Sweden’s National Institute for Economic Research has predicted that GDP will decline by 0.9% in 2009 and increase by 1.9% in 2010. It
also predicts that unemployment will rise from 6.1% this year to 7.9% in 2009 and 9% in 2010.

US
Only 13% of CIA employees can speak a foreign language nearly five years after the 9/11 Commission urged the agency to focus on recruiting bilingual operatives and analysts to help thwart future terrorist attacks, according to CIA data provided to USA Today.

Middle East
Jobsite Bayt.com received more than 14,000 unique visitors to its pan-regional Virtual Job Fair, which it hosted on its site between 22-26 March for employers and jobseekers. The Virtual Job Fair also recorded almost 81,000 total views and received more than 20,000 registrations.

Ireland
A poll from Monster has shown that workers in Ireland are the least likely to receive a pay rise, with 78% of those polled expecting not to see an increase in their annual salary this year. Workers from Italy and Luxembourg followed closely behind with 64% and 61% respectively.

Malaysia
Malaysia’s health ministry has formed a taskforce to speed up the recruitment process of doctors and medical officers in the country. Malaysian news website The Star Online reports that minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the aim was to cut recruitment times from 2-3 months to one month or less.