Menu

Though the economy has taken some steps toward recovery, 2009 was a difficult year for U.S. consumers. Financial, housing and employment markets are in less-than-favorable condition, and consumers are justifiably concerned. IRI has been analyzing the economic downturn and its effects on consumer shopping and consumption behavior during the last two years and identifies significant and long-lasting trends in its latest report, “Times & Trends: 2009 CPG Year in Review.”

It’s no secret that for quite awhile commercial real-estate transactions, including distressed assets, have been at a standstill. But that could change in 2010, according to a paper released by AlixPartners LLP, the global business advisory firm; in fact, the firm finds that opportunities in CRE could be bigger in the months ahead than even in the heady days of the early 1990s.

The euro area (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 9.9% in January 2010, the same as in December 2009. It was 8.5% in January 2009. The EU27 unemployment rate was 9.5% in January 2010, unchanged compared with December 2009. It was 8.0% in January 2009.

Organic farming in the EU27 covered 7.8 million hectares in 2008, up by 7% compared with 2007. Over a longer time period, the data available for the EU25 show an increase of 21% in the total organic area between 2005 and 2008.

Online advertised vacancies slipped 66,900 to 3,957,000 in February, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine™ (HWOL) Data Series. The February dip follows a large increase of almost 750,000 in the previous three-month period. Recent declines in the number of unemployed (labor supply) coupled with the rise in the number of advertised vacancies (labor demand) has narrowed the gap between labor supply and labor demand by 1,500,000, and in January, the latest month of unemployment numbers, there were 10.8 million or 3.69 unemployed for every online advertised vacancy.

A difficult economy has helped spur small businesses to adopt social media marketing in greater numbers, according to “The State of Small Business Report” from Network Solutions and the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business. Social media usage increased to 24%, from 12% the year before.

The report was issued by Norbert J. Ore, CPSM, C.P.M., chair of the Institute for Supply Management™ Manufacturing Business Survey Committee. “The manufacturing sector grew for the seventh consecutive month during February. While new orders and production were not as strong as they were in January, they still show significant month-over-month growth. Additionally, the Employment Index is very encouraging, as it is up 2.8 percentage points for the month to 56.1 percent. This is the third consecutive month of growth in the Employment Index. With these levels of activity, manufacturers are seemingly willing to hire where they have orders to support higher employment.”

Over three quarters of the organizations surveyed by The Climate Registry said their future carbon management and reduction plans are not contingent on mandatory regulation. Instead, over 80 percent of the organizations indicated their primary driver is to be a sustainable organization, and almost 70 percent hope to save money through increasing their energy efficiency.

As the recession drags on, American consumers are tightening their belts in the expectation that recovery will be slow in coming. Eighty-five percent of survey respondents believe that it will take at least one year to begin to see improvement in the economy, with 42% expecting that the recovery is still one to two years away, according to Cardbeat®, a syndicated market research report published by Auriemma Consulting Group (ACG).

The Internet may seem like a pervasive presence in much of the world, yet in many countries - including some developed ones - going online is a far from universal experience, according to findings by the World Internet Project (WIP).