UK Unemployment Rate Hits Four-Year High

Unemployment in the UK reaches a four-year peak  

The UK unemployment rate rose to a four-year high of 5.1%, up 0.8 percentage points from a year ago, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) labor force survey. When the Labour Party came to power, it set a target of raising the employment rate to 80%, but in the three months to October, the rate was 74.9%, down 0.3% on the quarter. Young people have been particularly affected: 546,000 18- to 24-year-olds are unemployed, the highest level since 2015 and up 85,000 on the quarter. The Labour Party plans to raise the minimum wage for young workers to match the adult rate, but the Resolution Foundation and other commentators have expressed concerns that this policy could negatively affect employment in the current economic climate.

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Further reading: Young people hit hard as UK unemployment marches upwards

Oil prices drop below $60 amid Russia-Ukraine peace talks

Oil prices fall as peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine continue. As of Tuesday, oil prices fell more than $1 to below $60 a barrel. Brent crude futures fell $1.56, or around 2.56% to $59 a barrel at 4:07 pm, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell around 2.59% to a price of $55.19 a barrel at 4:09 pm. A potential peace deal with Russia will most likely lead to oversupply in the oil market as sanctions ease, thus resulting in a surplus. China released economic data that raised concerns that global demand might be too weak to absorb supply growth.

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Further reading: Oil slips below $60 on Russia-Ukraine peace deal talks, weak China data 

Iraq faces a dual crisis as drought threatens water and wheat supplies 

Iraq is facing a water crisis as the rivers Tigris and Euphrates are drying up, leading to a lack of wheat harvest, thus posing a water and food security crisis. Iraq has had three successive annual surpluses of the staple grain, but this season the harvest is at risk of being slashed by up to 50%. One of the most severe droughts of the past decades has stalled the wheat production, which is expected to drop by 30% to 50% according to El Hajj Hassan, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Iraq representative. Iraq’s water reserves have decreased from 60 million cubic meters in 2020 to 4 billion cubic meters today, forcing Iraq to import more food at higher prices. According to Harry Istepanian, a water expert and founder of the Iraq Climate Change Center, this poses not only an environmental problem but also economic and security issues. 

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Further reading: Iraq’s dreams of wheat independence dashed by water crisis

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Neste pushes back climate targets

Neste, Finland-based refining and renewable fuels producer, announced today its revision of some of the climate targets it set in 2020. The target to reach carbon-neutral production by 2035 has been replaced with a new objective to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its own operations by 80% by 2040, while advancing its interim target of a 50% emission reduction from 2030 to 2035. Its current targets to reduce the use-phase emission intensity of sold products by 50% by 2040 and to help customers reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 20 Mt annually by 2030 remain unchanged. The reasons for the revision are the company’s financial position, the streamlined investment portfolio, and the delay in the Porvoo refinery transformation. 

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Further reading: Neste pushes back climate targets due to required investments that are “currently not realistic”

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of impakter.com — Cover Photo Credit:  Ellen Kerbey