The XX Factor

Recession Briefing 8.24

Financial fears and the recession are contributing to the rise in the number of men suffering from anorexia. ( Sky News )

Obama administration officials are looking at 1937’s stalled comeback from the Great Depression for clues as to what this recession’s rebound might be like. ( Wall Street Journal )

In the recession, there are a proliferation of scams that target job seekers. In addition to sham job-finding companies, perpetrators prey on the desperate by offering credit rating repairs, foreclosure rescues, and home-based businesses that aren’t legitimate. ( Boston Herald )

For many workers who have been displaced by the downturn, who have seen their salary or retirement income slashed or who fear the worst is yet to come, going back to school is looking more and more appealing. ( New York Times )

Economist Nouriel Roubini writes that the risk of a double-dip recession is rising, while European Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny says a double-dip is unlikely. ( Financial Times , Reuters )

Could the tourism industry lose half a million jobs this year? ( Daily Finance )

Coverage for repairs has grown amid the recession. So-called attachment rates, or the percent of people who add a service contract to their purchase, have increased by 10 percent this year. ( Bloomberg News )

Call them accidental entrepreneurs, unintended entrepreneurs or forced entrepreneurs. A year and a half into the Great Recession, with the jobless rate hovering near double digits, many corporate refugees are trying to fend for themselves. ( New York Times )

Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise. ( Associated Press )

An increasingly common situation in the recession: You accept a job offer, maybe even move to a new city to do so, but then the employer backs out. Do you have any rights? ( CNN/Money ) It’s called being pre-fired . ( Recessionwire )