Wages start to climb as talent pool is used up and employers chase jobseekers December 4, 2014 The long squeeze on workers’ wages is coming to an end, as recruiters today report that employers are competing harder for talent. As unemployment dives and the economy recovers, more employers are chasing fewer jobseekers, pushing up salaries. However, the intensity of the pressure will ease – the pace at which hiring is growing slowed to [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: Lord Heseltine calls for minimum wage hike December 3, 2014 Former Tory deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine has called for a hike in minimum wages, saying there is no argument for the government to keep wages low. At an event held by Management Today magazine at Claridge's on the eve of George Osborne's Autumn Statement, Heseltine said the "great thing about being a government adviser, rather [...]
UK and London house prices mapped: An average wage in Blackpool will buy you less than two square metres in Chelsea December 2, 2014 Click on the buttons in the top right to reveal the layers The average wage in Blackpool will net you one and a half square metres of floor space in Chelsea, while a Westminster dweller could buy 42.6 metres of home in Blaenau Gwent, such is the disparity in the UK’s housing market. Westminster is [...]
BG Group shareholders welcome Helge Lund salary deal December 1, 2014 BG Group shareholders have praised its remuneration committee, after the company gave in to shareholders over new chief executive Helge Lund's hefty £25m remuneration package. The oil and gas company said this morning it will reduce the planned remuneration package, which the Institute of directors (IoD) has slammed as “excessive, inflammatory and contrary to the [...]
Bonus season stunts City jobs market growth November 30, 2014 City hiring slowed in November as firms and employees ready themselves for the bonus season. However, hiring activity was still 29 per cent higher than at the same time last year, according to figures released today by recruiters Astbury Marsden. The number of jobs created in November was 3,212, down five per cent on October’s [...]
Wages set to rise at last as the number of vacancies outstrips volume of jobseekers November 24, 2014 Britain’s recovery has pulled so many unemployed workers into jobs that there are now more vacancies than jobseekers, for the first time since the financial crisis struck, jobs website Adzuna said today. As a result, employers are increasing the wages on offer to new staff, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) expects pay rises [...]
London house prices: Renting in the capital could cost you half your salary November 24, 2014 As Britain’s property market continues to cool, rental prices are dropping too. According to data from HomeLet, rental prices in five of seven UK regions dropped between September and October, although the annual rate was still positive at 7.5 per cent. For Greater London, which has the highest average rental prices in the country, [...]
EU beats UK in bonus cap legal battle November 20, 2014 Britain’s standing in the EU is lower than ever, and the UK yesterday admitted defeat in the latest spat. Should Britain ever have challenged the bonus cap? The Bank of England thinks the bank bonus cap does more harm than good. British institutions such as Barclays took a pummeling in the US when they cut bonuses, losing [...]
George Osborne calls off challenge to EU bankers’ bonus cap November 20, 2014 The UK government has withdrawn its legal challenge to the EU bankers’ bonus cap, George Osborne admitted today. The chancellor admitted the challenge was “unlikely to succeed” after an advisor to the European Court of Justice rejected the UK government’s argument. The EU legislation limits bonuses to 100 per cent of a banker’s [...]
This crude EU bonus cap will jeopardise efforts to really reform banker pay November 20, 2014 NIILO Jaaskinen, advocate general at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), recommended yesterday that the court should reject the UK’s challenge to the EU’s cap on bankers’ bonuses, which restricts bonuses to 100 per cent of a banker’s pay (or 200 per cent with shareholder approval). This wasn’t a big surprise, and it won’t have [...]