Retailers face £25.6m in extra costs from National Living Wage – PwC October 15, 2015 Large retailers could see their wage bills increase, on average, by £25.6m by 2020 due to the new National Living Wage (NLW), according to a new report out today from PwC. PwC polled more than 100 businesses with an average of 11,000 employees, finding that firms expect to pay, on average, an extra £1.6m in [...]
Drop in Eurozone industrial production points to lack of momentum in the economic growth October 14, 2015 Industrial production in the Eurozone took a breather in August as it failed to add momentum to its lacklustre recovery. Industrial production – which includes manufacturing, mining and energy production – dropped 0.5 per cent in August compared with July, according to data published by European statistical office Eurostat this morning. Of the big four [...]
Virtually flat US retail sales back case for delaying 2015 Fed interest rate hike, say economists October 14, 2015 US retailers sold $447.7bn (£290.1bn) of goods last month, hardly posting a rise compared with August as falling gasoline prices weighed on revenues at petrol stations. Retail sales climbed by 0.1 per cent on the month in September, according to figures released today by the US Census Bureau. The sales figure also marks a 2.4 per [...]
App developers in line for hefty pay rise next year as “war for talent” lifts professional Londoners’ salaries, says recruiter Robert Half October 14, 2015 London’s professional workers will get a bumper pay rise next year, despite the lowest rates of inflation in half a century, a recruiter is predicting. Average pay for professional roles in finance and accounting, financial services, IT and administration will rise by three per cent in 2016, Robert Half said today. Exclusive London figures given [...]
UK businesses hit record high – with small and medium-sized businesses playing a bigger part October 14, 2015 The number of businesses in the UK has hit a new record high, as government figures published today put the number of private sector firms at 5.4m. Breaking this down by business size reveals that small and medium-sized businesses account for almost half of generated turnover – and three fifths of all people employed. Small businesses, [...]
The average UK house price is now growing at twice the rate of London property October 14, 2015 What a difference a few months can make. Having once been seen as pulling up average UK house price growth, it seems London is now having the opposite effect, dragging the national average down, according to new figures. The National Housing Market Monitor, by estate agent Haart, found UK house prices grew 10 per cent to [...]
World wealth rankings: Here’s where the world’s millionaires live (spoiler – the number of UK super-rich is about to double) October 14, 2015 The UK is home to more of the world's millionaires than anywhere else in the world, apart from the US, and that number is only set to grow in the next five years. More than two million millionaires call the UK home, and rising numbers have caused the UK to jump two places ahead of Japan and [...]
Chinese economy: Weak inflation figures rekindle investors’ worries over China slowdown October 14, 2015 Weak data from China pulled Asian markets down overnight, as consumer inflation fell back and producer prices continued their deflation unabated. The country’s consumer price index fell from its 13-month high of two per cent in August to 1.6 per cent in September, dragged by slowing food prices. This is lower than economists had predicted, as [...]
Londoners pay a quarter of the UK’s £3bn total inheritance tax – Prudential October 14, 2015 London and the South East pay half of the country’s £3bn inheritance tax bill, new research from Prudential reveals today. The latest publicly available data on tax receipts show that inheritance tax – informally referred to as a death tax – was paid on 17,900 estates across the whole of the UK in the year [...]
British Chambers of Commerce wants a return to compulsory work experience for under-16s October 14, 2015 A body that represents nearly 100,000 UK businesses has called for work experience for under-16s to be made mandatory. Survey results published today by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) show 82 per cent of business bosses and 73 per cent of education leaders believe pupils should be offered work experience. “Business and school leaders [...]