Across OECD countries, close to 40% of high-school students who come top in science subjects have no interest in pursuing a science-related career, while almost 45% do not want to continue studying science, according to an OECD report, which was published on Tuesday. For countries that need to develop high-level skills in order to drive productivity and innovation, that’s bad news. Finland and New Zealand are in the lead for science excellence with Ireland achieving a 19th ranking.

Data through February 2009, released today by Standard & Poor’s for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, a leading measure of US home prices, shows continued broad based declines in the prices of existing single family homes across the United States, with 10 of the 20 metro areas showing record rates of annual decline, and 15 reporting declines in excess of 10% versus February 2008. For the first time in 16 months, however, the annual decline of the 10-City and 20-City composites did not set a new record. Prices in Phoenix were down 35.2%, Las Vegas declined 31.7% and San Francisco fell 31.0%.

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During the boom, bank wealth reports generally put the Irish second to Japan as the wealthiest on earth. The data was one thing but in Japan where a third of employees were “temps,” earning less than the Irish minimum wage, who could be dismissed with a day’s notice and in Ireland where the average annual industrial wage was €32,000, beyond the Insiders in both one-party ruled democracies, the reality simply was out of sync with the message. Irish National Bank has today published a more sober wealth report for changed times, which says, that  the accumulated wealth of the average Irish household has declined by €153,000 over the last two years, equivalent to a fall of over 20%. Average household debt has continued to rise and reached €133,000 in 2008 - up from €128,000 at the end of 2007.

 The US Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had posted a slight increase in March, improved considerably in April. The Index now stands at 39.2 (1985=100), up from 26.9 in March. The Present Situation Index increased to 23.7 from 21.9 last month. The Expectations Index rose to 49.5 from 30.2 in March.

An overwhelming majority of Irish businesses are experiencing serious difficulties in accessing finance from credit institutions according to a survey of chartered accountancy firms conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI).

Developers in Dubai are scrambling to prevent a wave of investor defaults as they struggle to survive the city-state’s real-estate bust.

Dublin ranks 25th of 215 (in top
12%) in the Mercer 2009 Quality of Living Global City rankings, ahead of several
major cities including Paris (33rd), London (38th), and Barcelona (42nd). Vienna
has passed Zurich to take the top spot as the world’s city with the best quality
of living, according to the Mercer 2009 Quality of Living survey. Geneva is in
third position, while Vancouver and Auckland are now joint fourth in the
rankings.

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Aer Lingus reported today, that revenues fell by 16% during the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same time in 2008 and the airline said it was facing an exceptionally tough trading environment.