The latest CIPD/KPMG UK Labour Market Outlook report highlights a jobs market is said to sure to strike fear into school-leavers and graduates taking first steps into the jobs market. The labour market outlook looks set to be fraught for all young people, with nearly half (45%) of UK companies not planning to recruit from either of these groups.

The Labour Court Annual Report for 2008, published on Thursday, says referrals to each of the four Irish State bodies - - the Labour Court; the Labour Relations Commission Conciliation Service; the Rights Commissioner Service and the Employment Appeals Tribunal - - involved in the resolution of workplace disputes rose in 2008: the total of 18,853 for all four bodies that year represented an increase of 30% on the 2007 level.

Principal news stories from the Irish Independent, Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Financial Times and New York Times.

Despite the turmoil in the financial world, 2008 saw a doubling of the global carbon market, to an estimated value of more than $126 billion, according to the latest State and Trends of the Carbon Market Report 2009, released Wednesday, by the World Bank at Carbon Expo in Barcelona.

Irish financial regulation has been under the spotlight this week with the Financial Services Consultative Consumer Panel, which was appointed by the Minister for Finance, saying in a report that most consumers have lost “significant amounts of money,” due to the inadequacies of the financial regulatory structure. It also criticised the “deficient” response of the regulator to threats to consumers, including the domestic property bubble. Today, the media is slammed for stoking up hysteria about an alleged lack of financial regulation in Ireland. In reality, it is claimed Ireland is heavily regulated and the “financial press” is said to have made its own contribution “to the debacle which now engulfs us.”

Traditional shopping malls are dwindling in number, with many struggling properties reduced to largely vacant shells.

US sales of second-hand houses rose in April boosted by foreclosure auctions and improved affordability. Distressed properties accounted for 45 percent of all sales in the month and prices were down 15 percent from a year earlier.

Markets news on stocks, currencies and oil.

Fine Gael Leader Enda Kenny TD today launched what it termed a “rescue plan” for small businesses to help them through the recession and to support jobs. The Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD said the Fine Gael measures could save an average small business around €50,000 a year. Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan TD and Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mary Hanafin TD, are announcing details of a Work Placement Programme and a Short Time Work Training Programme this afternoon at Government  Buildings.

Glimcher Realty Trust, which owns 23 U.S. malls and carries $1.6 billion in debt, is selling its stakes in some of the best properties in its portfolio.