economic downturn

While High Street sales got off to a sluggish start this month, online sales at niche British luxury e-tailer Stone Bridge defy the economic downturn.

LOS ANGELES (Press Release – October 27, 2011) – Cbeyond (NASDAQ: CBEY), a leading provider of IT and communications services to small and medium sized businesses across the country, announced today a complimentary event titled, “Recession Confessions: Stories of Growth and Survival,” which will take place on Thursday, November 3, 2011, from 6:00 p.m.

– 9:00 p.m. Pacific Time at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. A panel of Inc.

(University of Miami) Previous studies have found that health outcomes improve during an economic downturn. Job loss means less money available for potentially unhealthy behaviors such as excessive drinking, according to existing literature on employment and alcohol consumption.

A new study by health economist Michael T. French from the University of Miami and his collaborators has concluded just the opposite -- heavy drinking and alcohol abuse/dependence significantly increase as macroeconomic conditions deteriorate.

The worst economic downturn since the 1930s has left a record number of Americans in poverty and created strains on the government’s “safety net” not seen in decades.

(Indiana University) The economic downturn and recession has provided the first test of the US work-based welfare reforms enacted in 1996.

Poor women in a study by Indiana University sociologist Kristin Seefeldt have received little to no help. "For the lowest income citizens in the US, they have very, very limited expectations about what government could or should do for them even though they are being hit so hard by the recession."

(RAND Corporation) Fewer Mexican immigrants returned home from the United States during 2008 and 2009 than in the two years prior to the start of the recession, a finding that contradicts the notion that the economic downturn has hastened return migration to Mexico, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Bridgewater, New Jersey (PRESS RELEASE – March 10, 2011) – The second annual “Brother Small Business Survey” revealed nearly half (47 percent) of small business owners prefer to invest in their business now to gain advantage over competitors; that’s up 11 percentage points from 2010.

Last year’s survey revealed that the majority preferred stockpiling cash reserves as a means to help them survive the economic downturn.

Customer satisfaction in the retail and online e-commerce industries is getting worse. There is no single reason for this, but it is likely that the recent economic downturn is one of the biggest factors.

(University of California - Los Angeles) The California Health Interview Survey released its latest data today on more than 100 topics affecting the health and well-being of Californians.

The 2009 data, collected in the midst of a severe economic downturn, may provide a snapshot of California under duress.

The various cycles of the survey may also provide a baseline from which to implement health care reform in 2014.

It took just 18 months for the nation’s unemployment rate to rise from 5 percent to over 10 percent during the economic downturn.

It is likely to take many years before the jobless rate drops back anywhere near 5 percent, economists say.