This week, Global Pulse goes beyond today's front-page news of exec bonus furor and reports on human-scale examples of the economic crisis. From struggling carpet weavers in India to sober singles in Moscow and jobless college graduates in South Korea, we examine how gainful work is won in a new era of contraction.

In the U.S., the U.K., and South Korea, public service is billed as the next great wave of labor opportunity. The News Hour at PBS reports that more and more young Americans are turning to government and non-profit programs like the Peace Corps and Teach for America. Likewise, the Independent chronicles a generation of young Britons eager to jump from the boardroom to the classroom as grade school teachers. And from Seoul today comes word that the South Korean government will create up to 550,000 temporary jobs in coming months, many of them for young graduates to work in fields like education.

But a less rosy portrait of labor emerges from the European Union and Malaysia, where migrant workers have experienced devastating recent changes in status. Der Spiegel interviews Mongolians in Prague, Poles in England, and Ecuadorians in Madrid who explain that jobs are newly few and far between. Across the globe, Al Jazeera English speaks to Bangladeshis locked out of Malaysia, their visas unexpectedly revoked.  

Will these labor changes prove fundamental and long-term? Or will we soon see a return to boom-era ways of expansion, open borders, and private enterprise?

This week's Global Pulse examines stories of global job loss and steps that governments are taking to intercede. Just in the past few days, strikes have captured headlines in the French island nation of Guadeloupe as well as in South Africa, where the marquee 2010 World Cup stadium has hit yet another roadblock. Further strikes are deemed imminent in the UK, whose major commuter rail unions are set to vote on a coordinated work shutdown in March.

And how well are governments responding to the plight of workers? In Guadeloupe and South Africa, government authorities have for now shown little inclination to negotiate. Behind the scenes though, an ideological debate is brewing regarding appropriate labor outreach. At Firedoglake for instance, a blog thread entitled "Why American Industry (And Its Future) Matters" speculates that government investment in labor today could curtail massive economic pain in a future of shuttered companies and spiraling layoffs.

Can governments stave off a new global era of labor unrest? Check out this week's episode and let us know your thoughts in the comments section above.