Productivity is down by 12pc September 9, 2012 UK productivity is 12.2 per cent lower than it would have been had pre-crisis growth rates continued over the past four years. But the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) reckons the decline in underlying worker effectiveness has been two per cent. The gap is accounted for by a myriad of factors, including flaws [...]
Law firm claims taxman is wrong in half of complaints September 9, 2012 THE TAXMAN admitted it was wrong in well over half of the complaints it received through the 2010-11 tax year, research from law firm Pinsent Masons has revealed. There were some 58,110 complaints made to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in 2010-11, and in 33,284 – or 57 per cent – of these the [...]
Parents face state school premium September 9, 2012 Parents have to pay three times the average annual private school fees on their house if they want to get in the catchment range of a top state school, Lloyds TSB claimed today. During 2012, house prices in the postal districts of the top 30 state schools – judged by GCSE results in the previous [...]
Jobs market takes an Olympic hit September 9, 2012 The professional jobs market took a dive during the Olympics, with both temporary and permanent vacancies slashed as firms took a summer break from hiring, the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) reported today. Temporary vacancies were down 15 per cent in August, compared to last year, and permanent vacancies fell 24 per cent.
TUC calls for bank shake-up September 9, 2012 The Trades Union Congress will today call for a major shake-up of the UK banking sector, with a state investment bank, possibly with a fully-nationalised RBS, as its core. It will also call for a crackdown on high pay and bonuses by including them as profits liable for corporation tax.
Lagarde backs ECB plan to buy Spanish bonds September 9, 2012 CHRISTINE Lagarde yesterday pledged to help the European Central Bank (ECB) in designing and monitoring its programme of bond buying, intended to help ease the pressure on indebted governments such as Italy and Spain. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) boss said those governments had taken enough action on state finances to merit more help from [...]
Analysts expect third round of QE at this week’s Fed meeting September 9, 2012 THE FEDERAL Reserve will engage in its third round of quantitative easing at their next meeting this week, analysts believe, based on the worse-than-expected job data that came out last week. Headline payrolls rose only 96,000, whereas the consensus forecast was that 130,000 would be created – and the 0.2 per cent fall in the [...]
Troika will end Greek bailout without more spending details September 9, 2012 THE TROIKA of international lenders who support Greek finances have questioned some of the measures included in a €12bn (£9.6bn) austerity package prepared by the government, a senior Greek official said yesterday. The inspectors from the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF returned to Athens on Friday to conclude a report on Greece’s progress [...]
Monti talks tough on bailout terms September 9, 2012 ITALIAN leader Mario Monti insisted yesterday that he would not accept extra conditions on countries that ask Europe for a bailout. He told a conference that rules put in place in June are enough to cover the bond-buying programme announced by ECB boss Mario Draghi last week, which requires aided countries to impose tough austerity [...]
Most workers unaware of automatic pensions September 9, 2012 MILLIONS of British workers do not realise they are about to be automatically enrolled into pension schemes, according to a Scottish Widows study out today. Within the next month staff at the largest UK firms will be automatically put into a pension scheme, unless they opt out – yet 52 per cent of workers, or [...]
