In this week's issue, we look at youth unemployment on an international scale, putting the spotlight on a problem that threatens economic growth and social stability in dozens of countries.
In France, close to one in four people under 25 is unemployed. In Spain, 56 percent of those under 25 are jobless, while in Italy some 40 percent of workers under 30 are unemployed. Last year, the youth unemployment rate in Egypt hit 39 percent. Meanwhile, in America, the unemployment rate for 20- to 24-year-olds sits at about 13 percent, nearly double the overall unemployment rate.
To put flesh and blood on these statistics, Peter Goodman, Chris Kirkham and Stanislas Kraland spoke with young adults in nations all over the world, focusing on those who graduated from college but have been unable to secure employment since.
In Spain, we meet 24-year-old Ester Martinez, who chooses to downplay her considerable education -- a nursing degree, a master's degree and a doctorate she's currently pursuing -- as she applies for work in retail shops and supermarkets. And then there's Spanish worker Thomas Pallot, who expected to find work as a computer technician after completing his studies, but has only been able to find occasional temp work -- distributing flyers, lifting boxes, and other odd jobs.
"I'm laughing, but I should be crying," says Luciana Di Virgilio, a 27-year-old Italian industrial designer. "In our trade journals, it's common to read the phrase 'young designer.' And then you see they're writing about nearly 50-year-old men and women."
Elsewhere in the issue, Catherine Pearson looks at the ways women are making the time to incorporate meditation into their busy lives.
Twenty-three-year-old freelance writer and mother Jill Amodio used to believe she needed to set aside a large chunk of time for meditation, an unattainable goal that made her think of meditation as just another thing she was failing at. Then she realized that even a few minutes of meditation each day could leave her feeling recharged.
"What is the purpose of this meditation?" Amodio later asked herself. "It's not to get an hour in. It's to get relaxed, and to re-center myself." Now, she fits it naturally into her schedule, rather than seeing it as an added source of stress.
Finally, as part of our ongoing focus on the Third Metric, we look at what your body looks like when it's high on exercise.
This story appears in Issue 71 of our weekly iPad magazine, Huffington, available Friday, Oct. 18 in the iTunes App store.