The Graphic Truth: New digital jobs in a post-pandemic world

The twin blows of the coronavirus pandemic and the economic crisis it unleashed have added around 250 million globally to unemployment rolls. It has also changed the nature of work for many of those who have been lucky enough to keep their jobs. But this disruption has also accelerated digitalization, which Microsoft projects will create 149 million new jobs over the next five years. As more people learn to work from home, what does this mean for work, education, and skilling? We look at the new "digital" jobs that the global economy will need to fill by 2025, and which skills will be needed to get hired.

The Graphic Truth: Who's been hit hardest by COVID job losses?

The pandemic has affected the working world in a slew of ways: the collapse of economic growth has put many out of work, while public health restrictions mean others cannot do their jobs even if they still have one. The UN calculates that the equivalent of 400 million full-time jobs were lost in the second quarter of this year, compared with the end of last year. That's 14 percent of all worldwide jobs. This number includes workers put on furlough or temporary leave, as well as those who are now unemployed. The burden has fallen disproportionately on women, and experts are worried that the pandemic will exacerbate inequalities in the workforce, given the large number of women who work in hard-hit sectors of the economy. We take a look at which regions have been hit hardest by pandemic-related job losses.

The Graphic Truth: EU populist parties weather COVID storm

Before the coronavirus hit Europe in March, mainstream political parties were struggling to contain the rise of populist and anti-establishment forces. Did COVID-19 change that trend? While a handful of major populist parties have lost some support and a few others have gained in the polls, voter intention for most of these forces has not in fact changed significantly. We take a look a how ten EU populist parties have polled over the past six months.

The Graphic Truth: Racial diversity in US professional sports

In an unprecedented step to protest racial injustice, several US professional sports teams last week staged a walkout after the shooting of an unarmed Black man by a white police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The boycott was initially led by the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association, a league where three-quarters of players are Black. But Bucks were soon followed by other teams and sports — including several from Major League Baseball, where whites make up nearly two thirds of players. As professional athletes take bolder stands on the contentious conversation about race relations in the run-up to the November presidential election, we took a look at the racial breakdown of the players in five major US professional sports competitions.

The Graphic Truth: Global leaders winning vs losing on COVID

Six months into the pandemic, the coronavirus is still wreaking havoc on most countries in the world. National responses to COVID-19 dominate the performance benchmarks for world leaders — while some have been truly hurt in the polls, others have shown to have the antibodies to resist most pandemic-fueled popular discontent. Who are the winners and losers in the battle for national political survival in a world upended by the coronavirus? We take a look at the best and worst rated world leaders since February.

The Graphic Truth: The COVID vaccine race

The global race is on to develop a vaccine against COVID-19. While it usually takes many years to develop and widely distribute vaccines, scientists around the world are now trying to get one ready within an unprecedented time frame: 12-18 months. And while there is some international cooperation in that effort, there's also fierce competition among countries, as everyone wants to develop a vaccine on their home turf first, not only for prestige, but also to get their citizens at the front of the line for the shots when they are available. There are hundreds in development, but to date only eight vaccines have progressed to Phase III of the clinical trial process, meaning they are being tested on thousands of people and the results are compared with those who receive a placebo drug. Phase III is the final stage before approval. Who's gotten there so far?

The Graphic Truth: Nuclear weapons — who has what?

As the world prepares to mark 75 years since American forces dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, global non-proliferation efforts, first codified in Cold War-era treaties, are in jeopardy. While the overall number of nuclear weapons continues to decrease — mainly because the US and Russia have set about dismantling retired weapons — both countries, which account for 90 percent of the world's total nuclear arsenal, continue to modernize their nuclear weapons programs. Meanwhile, the New START treaty, which limits the number of long-range nuclear weapons that each side can deploy to about 1,500 apiece, is at risk of collapsing. Here's a look at which countries have nuclear weapon stockpiles and who's ready to use them.

The Graphic Truth: US views on Big Tech — what's changed?

In a landmark US congressional hearing this week, CEOs from some of the world's biggest tech companies — Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Alphabet (Google's parent company) — faced tough questions from sitting lawmakers on the monopolization of the Big Tech industry. Democrats emphasized Big Tech's stifling of competition, while some Republicans raised grievances over online platforms' supposed anti-conservative prejudice. We take a look at both parties' traction online, and how Republican and Democratic voters' views on regulating Big Tech have changed in recent years.

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