Where are the jobs going, and what is the effect? When the housing bubble burst in the United States many people thought job losses would be contained to the financial sector. Not so, claim the Brits. The UK reflects what may happen in the US, and thus far the UK is a mirror image.

Britain will be hit harder than any other advanced nation in the worst recession for more than 60 years, world economists warned last night. The International Labour Organisation predicts that 50 million jobs will be lost around the world this year.

At banks that are receiving federal bailout money nearly nine out of every 10 of the most senior executives from 2006 are still on the job, according to an Associated Press analysis of regulatory and company documents in the United States.

In one day – Wednesday – job losses for the day totaled 17,600. Compared to 65,000 job cuts Tuesday and considering that 143 million people are still employed in the US labor force, Wednesday’s job loss may seem minor. However, only one year ago my brother and I discussed unemployment while concluding that real unemployment rates are higher than reported.

December marked the first time every state recorded a rise in monthly unemployment since the bureau began keeping such records in 1976. Every state in the United States! But that does not count those who gave up, or otherwise fell off the back side whne benefits ran out.

Now we see the real economic impact of the mortgage blues.