Black Friday about to turn sour for one corporation

Shoppers and stores around America are preparing for big Black Friday sales, but a group of Walmart workers are getting ready for a protest. The union-backed group OUR Walmart, which has helped organise the post-Thanksgiving walk-out, expects thousands of workers around the country to participate. Workers say they are joining the protest to ask the country's largest employer to end what they call retaliation against speaking out for better pay, fair schedules, and affordable health care. I'm sure the protests, and the timing of said protests, will prove to be a huge embarrassment for the Arkansas-based national retailer. But I won't be taking part because I don't have any sort of job anywhere, and because Walmart doesn't exist in New Zealand. But you should get a job because unemployment is a significant risk factor for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), as results of a large cohort study suggested. The risk does however fade with joblessness lasting more than a year. Among more than 13,000 participants in the Health and Retirement Study, the hazard ratio in those looking unsuccessfully for work was 1.35 relative to the continuously employed, after adjusting for sociodemographic factors like insurance status, smoking, alcohol consumption, certain comorbidities, and body mass index. And speaking of index, European stock index futures pointed to a higher open today, with stocks set to rise for the fourth straight day, buoyed by data showing China's manufacturing sector expanded for the first time in 13 months.