Budget 2015 interactive: Friends of the north? Unemployment mapped in every constituency March 18, 2015 On budget day, George Osborne offered a hand to the north of England. The Conservative party would, he said, build a Northern powerhouse, and, in fact they had already started. Employment and jobs the chancellor added, have grown faster in the north of England than the south. ONS tables comparing the three months to the [...]
Budget nightmare: Wage growth drops to 1.8 per cent March 18, 2015 Wage growth fell to 1.8 per cent in the three months January, down from 2.1 per cent in the three months to December and way below expectations of 2.2 per cent. Excluding bonuses, that figure fell to 1.6 per cent. The figure, published this morning by the Office for National Statistics, will come as a [...]
Barclays halves bonus payouts for top executives March 17, 2015 Barclays has slashed the payouts to its top bosses by half, yesterday revealing that the group of executives at the head of the bank received £16.5m in shares for deferred bonuses and new awards. That is a dramatic fall from £31.8m a year earlier, reflecting both the increased crackdown on payouts, and a shift away [...]
Apprentices to get 20 per cent pay rise but George Osborne misses minimum wage goal March 16, 2015 Apprentices will get a 20 per cent pay rise this October, after business secretary Vince Cable won his battle to overrule the Low Pay Commission’s (LPC) recommendation of a 2.6 per cent rise in the minimum wage. By contrast, chancellor George Osborne has failed to meet his aspiration to hike the headline minimum wage to [...]
Soaring talent demand pushes up City salaries March 16, 2015 Competition for professional staff is pushing up London salaries. The number of professional job vacancies climbed 21 per cent year-on-year in February, according to figures released today by recruiters Morgan Mckinley. Surging demand for new employees is resulting in higher pay packages. Workers securing new positions were lured away by a 21 per cent pay [...]
General Election 2015: Unemployment is driving some young voters from the Conservatives to Labour March 12, 2015 Some young people who voted for the Conservatives in the last general election are choosing to vote Labour this time, according to Reuters. The news agency spoke to a sample of first-time voters in 2010, and tracked them down again this month to find out how their opinions had changed in the run up to [...]
John Lewis Partnership slashes bonus as Waitrose profits fall March 12, 2015 The John Lewis Partnership, known for its generous staff incentives, has slashed the bonus payout to its partners after a hit on profits at its upmarket grocery chain Waitrose. Staff will receive a bonus of 11 per cent of their annual salary, down from last year's 15 per cent – the third annual decline in a row. [...]
Self-employment is not bad, says Bank of England March 11, 2015 Self-employment has boomed in recent years because of changes in technology making it easier for people to set up on their own, a Bank of England analysis showed today. Its report came as the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said GDP growth is growing at a strong and steady pace. Self-employment accounts for [...]
Millions of UK jobs NOT at risk from Brexit: Free market think-tank busts pro-EU myth March 11, 2015 The oft-repeated claim that 3m British jobs depend on Britain's membership of the EU has been challenged in a new report by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). The report's author, Ryan Bourne, calls on the public and commentators to challenge the assertion frequently made by pro-EU supporters. "It can be said with certainty that [...]
UK workers are saving largest slice of their salary since 2004 March 9, 2015 BRITONS are saving the most for a decade, figures released yesterday by National Savings and Investments (NS&I) – the state-owned savings bank – shows. Monthly savings are currently 8.52 per cent of pay, up from 8.04 per cent last year. It is the highest share of monthly pay saved since NS&I began its survey in [...]