Mild recession clouds gather with a low level of job losses

In the past, there have been so-called jobless recoveries. These happen when economies come out of recession and start producing more, but not by enough to bring joblessness down. Now we might be experiencing, or be about to experience, an unemployment-less recession.

For well over a year, higher costs for businesses, lower real spending power for consumers and a blizzard of other headwinds have buffeted the global economy.

All of that came in the wake ...