The global economic downturn has triggered a wave of mental health problems and suicides. However, there are also many other individuals who are coping well, and taking this as an opportunity to re-assess their life’s worth, upgrade their skills and academic qualifications, and spend more time with family and loved ones.

In China, graduate students are among the worst affected, but the authorities has promised graduates will get "at least one job offer" in the coming months, while provincial governments have raised enrolments for post-graduate studies to keep students occupied for a couple of years.

Job fairs are also being organised in major cities, to make it easy for people to come together to check out openings and get interviews.

It’s still tough to get a job, any job. Chen Ying, a 25-year-old international trade graduate from Inner Mongolia, says after a year of looking for jobs, she is now considering reception and entry-level sales jobs. The problem is, so has everyone else, she says. "I have been to more than 30 interviews and made dozens more applications."

Our last poll on JobsCentral Community asked users the following question: How much of a pay-cut are you willing to take to keep your job? The results? Surprising, to say the least.

By Khaw Ker Wei

A total of 378 votes were collected over a period of two weeks, and 74% of respondents indicated that they would not be willing to take a pay-cut of more than 10% to keep their jobs. This is despite the fact that workers are being retrenched by the thousands of late.

Analysts are predicting record-high levels of unemployment for Singapore this year, which means that more companies are likely to announce retrenchments in the months ahead. What should you do if someone in your family gets retrenched? Find out how you can offer support in various ways.

By Charlene Tan

An average person spends one third of his or her life at work, and so a sudden loss of job can be a shocking and depressing setback. When this happens, the degree of support rendered by family members can determine how well a person emerges from the crisis.