02/11/2012 World Business Report

deputy in 1988. Those are the latest headlines. Now

Your chance to catch up on all the latest in the world of business and

money. Here are the headlines: A US jobs report today. The last one

before election day. Will it provide a snapshot of the country's

economic recovery and dissuade the presidential race.

The World Bank opens a landing channel to Burma for the first time

in 25 years. And is the powerhouse of Europe are

losing its spark? German manufacturers might be making less.

We will catch up very sharply. As you have been hearing, parts of

America's East Coast may still be picking up after Hurricane Sandy.

But for the economy, business as usual. The monthly employment

report was published today. It is expected to show that the

unemployment rate crept up a little bit to 7.9%. That could give

political ammunition to President Obama's rival.

In four days, America will choose its next president. In a last push

to win over voters, Barack Obama and his Republican contender Mitt

Romney are back on the campaign trail. Laying out their plans for

the next four years. But were voters across America, there is

just one big issue - the state of the country's economy. The jobless

rate is still high. Convincing voters they have the best plan to

promote jobs and cut unemployment is likely to be the key to the

White House. One business that is hiring new staff is a green energy

firm. Its past is less worried about the economic outlook and more

about finding suitable applicants. His firm does offer a training for

new staff. But borrowing the money needed to fund the schemes is hard

to come by. We have the labourers and jobs. We just need the skills.

It is easy to fill, it just takes some attention. We need to invest

in our people. For people like Julia, who have the necessary

skills, finding a job was much easier. After just two weeks on the

job market, she was offered a new position as a marketing director.

But keeping up with changing demand for skills is not easy. When I was

in college eight years ago, the jobs available then were not the

jobs available now. That is quite recent. It is difficult. Let us say

people in school now start learning to be programmers. Will that be a

job still around when they come out of school? For many more, the

outlook is less certain. America needs to create 100,000 jobs every

month just to keep up with its population growth. When Americans

go to the polls next week, they'll be voting not only for the next

president but also for the country's economic future.

As soon as those numbers are out we will bring them to you.

The World Bank has approved a development grant of $80 million to

Burma. It is the first systems to the country in 25 years. --

Assistance. This comes after the US lifted those sanctions. Also,

certain financial restrictions. Indeed it does. It is the first

time the World Bank will be opening channels of lending to Burma for a

quarter of a century. Roma was the second poorest country in a shop.

The money will go a long way. -- drama. It will go to build roads,

schools, health clinics. It comes after now to the US sanctions were

suspended to some extent. The current government also began

implementing economic, political and other reforms. This is

certainly helping Burma. Another $165 million will also be

potentially made available to the country once it has cleared its

overdue debt. Discussion will continue in coming months on just

how to allocate the funds. There have elections in November. -- were

elections. -- in November 2010. This led to a new democratic system.

Some censorship has been lifted and political prisoners freed. Aung San

Suu Kyi has rejoined the political process. She has a presence in the

parliament. All of these are signs that Burma will continue to open up.

Moving on with the latest indicators on the state of

Germany's manufacturing sector. They come out in a few hours' time.

They are likely to make for some gloomy reading. They are very

important figures. They are likely to be negative for yet another

month. Manufacturing activity is slowing. That will be gloomy news

for pretty much everyone. They were hoping that Germany may be able to

pull its neighbours out of recession. Should Germany be so

pessimistic? Germany's VW aims to become the

biggest carmaker in the world. Aiming to make over 10 million

models per year. But this year it has had to cut back on production

instead. Only a strong presence in China has kept revenues high. The

consumer boom there seems to be easing off. That explains why last

month the purchasing managers' index for manufacturing in Germany

sank to a low not seen since the end of the global recession. In one

respect, German manufacturers may be authors of their own misfortunes.

He specialised in making highly engineered capital goods and high-

quality consumer durable. People can pass up on these when they are

feeling the pinch. It is hard for many German engineering companies

to switch on short notice. Then again, German manufacturers can

come themselves lucky. -- count. The recession in the eurozone has

depressed the value of the euro. Its currency would have risen if

they were still using the Deutschmark. Germany is now

benefiting from the misery of Europe. Shouldn't Germany's

industrialists feel pessimistic? Unemployment is low and consumer

spending is still high. It may come as cold comfort for the populations

of partners. But Germany has been heard very little by the European

downturn. Catching on a couple of other

business stories. link in's outperformed Wall Street's

expectations. It has been an exception among internet companies

that have gone public in recent years. Others like Facebook are

trading well below their initial public offering. Their stock price

has more than doubled. How about the iPad many? It made

its debut on Friday. Its in order to take on its rivals with a small

version. The new iPad will also be launched in about three dozen

countries across Asia, Europe and the United States later today.

That is what the Asian markets did. This is after some better numbers

out of the United States and China. China manufacturing numbers giving

a boost to the markets in Asia. Generally giving a boost to the