Europe vows to stop bank bonus cap avoidance September 7, 2014 The European Union’s chief financial services officer pledged last night to stop banks from sidestepping the bloc’s cap on bonuses. Michel Barnier said that the EU’s probe into allowances that some banks have started to pay staff must wrap up by the end of September. Already banks including Barclays, HSBC and RBS have implemented systems [...]
EU bonus cap: UK’s challenge reaches final stage in court September 7, 2014 The UK's challenge to the European Union's bonus cap plan will be heard in the European Court of Justice tomorrow. This will be the final stage in the case opened by the UK Treasury last September. The new rule, which is supposed to be imposed on all bonuses awarded from 2014 onwards, caps bankers' [...]
Low pay and precarious employment: How the beauty industry scars young women for life August 31, 2014 The career prospects of young women are being hindered by their tendency to apply to oversubscribed and often poorly paid jobs in industries such as hair and beauty, according to a report by the Young Women's Trust. Called “Scarred for life?”, it shows that there are currently 418,000 women in England aged 18-24 who [...]
Average bonuses rise 4.9 per cent as bank and insurance bonuses hit their highest since 2008 August 29, 2014 Bonus payments in the UK rose to £40.5bn in the year to April, up almost five per cent on a year ago. In the finance and insurance sector, payments hit £15bn – their highest level since the peak of the financial crisis, in 2008. Changes to taxes in the 2012/13 financial year meant many businesses [...]
Manufacturers say pay deals are bucking national wage slump August 25, 2014 The UK’s industrial firms are reporting stronger wage growth than dismal official figures suggest, with a new survey indicating that wages in the sector are now accelerating at a faster pace than inflation. The latest figures from manufacturing industry body EEF show an average pay increase of 2.6 per cent between February and July, in [...]
Ex-MEP who called for caps on bonuses, slammed for taking London Stock Exchange job August 22, 2014 Former Lib Dem MEP Sharon Bowles has been chastised by Sven Giegold, a German Green, for taking a job at the London Stock Exchange (LSE) after calling for caps on bonuses in the financial industry. Giegold, who had spearheaded the campaign for a cap on bankers' bonuses, which was introduced last year, used to Twitter [...]
Huge jump in young jobless finding work as youth unemployment drops to 10-year low August 21, 2014 The proportion of young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs) has dived to a 10-year low, official figures showed yesterday. Just 13.3 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds were NEETs in the three months to June, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, down from 15.1 per cent a year earlier. And [...]
Self-employment is at its highest for 40 years August 20, 2014 The rise in the employment rate since 2008 has largely been amongst the self-employed, according to new data from the ONS. What is more, the percentage of the workforce that answers only to itself is at 15 per cent, the highest rate for 40 years. To make matters worse, the average salary for a self-employed [...]
Employment is rising because labour is cheap – especially in the private sector August 19, 2014 The latest employment figures confirm the buoyancy of the UK labour market. In the April to June quarter of this year, employment rose by 167,000 on the previous quarter, to an all-time high of 30.6m. Unemployment also fell, by no less than 132,000. Taking a somewhat longer perspective, the low point for employment was reached [...]
Three reasons why it looks like wages are doing so badly – Bottom Line August 17, 2014 The picture seemed to be crystal clear. With pay packets getting smaller, and Bank of England governor Mark Carney striking a notably dovish tone, any rise in interest rates could be assumed to be some way off. This was the mood half-way through last week, when the pound dropped more than one cent against the [...]