Which UK industry has been left out of the rise in zero hours contracts? April 30, 2014 Businesses in the UK's financial industry are the least likely to make us of zero hours contracts, according to figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS). The proportion of businesses in the finance sector using zero hours contracts, which do not guarantee a minimum number of hours of work, came to just seven [...]
Just three reforms would transform UK recovery into long-term boom April 22, 2014 WHISPER it, but things finally seem to be looking up. Investment is rising, unemployment is falling, and the deficit seems to be coming under control. But it could be a lot better. Real wages will not recover to their pre-crisis peak until 2020. And expected growth of 2.7 per cent this year is well below [...]
Vince Cable is fighting yesterday’s battles on boardroom pay April 22, 2014 THE VINCE Cable show is back on the road. The business secretary is up to his old tricks again, waging war on business. He writes in a letter to FTSE bosses that “excessive and disproportionate pay damages popular trust in business” and that it “undermines business’ licence to operate”. It’s a shame he didn’t make [...]
Letters to the Editor – 23/04 – Labour’s spending, The West’s decline, Best of Twitter April 22, 2014 Labour’s spending [Re: The cost of living crisis isn’t over – but Ed Miliband still won’t solve it, yesterday] It is difficult to see how Labour intends to deal with high childcare costs, while also promising to raise the national minimum wage or introduce a (much higher) living wage. Unless the intention is just to [...]
Just three reforms would transform UK recovery into long-term boom April 22, 2014 WHISPER it, but things finally seem to be looking up. Investment is rising, unemployment is falling, and the deficit seems to be coming under control. But it could be a lot better. Real wages will not recover to their pre-crisis peak until 2020. And expected growth of 2.7 per cent this year is well below [...]
The cost of living crisis isn’t over – but Ed Miliband still won’t solve it April 21, 2014 PAY GROWTH at 1.7 per cent, inflation at 1.6 per cent on the consumer price index (CPI), real wages increasing. One commentator stated this was the coalition’s “mission accomplished” moment. People are starting to get better off after years of falling real wages, so the argument goes. Surely this is proof that the government’s “long-term [...]
Back to work: Real pay starts rising again after six years of pain April 17, 2014 THE SQUEEZE in real pay-packets that has hit workers over most of the last six years is coming to an end, with earnings finally rising faster than prices. Average total pay rose by 1.7 per cent in the December to February period compared to a year earlier – higher than the latest rate of inflation, [...]
Households are full of hope now inflation is falling April 16, 2014 Politicians are tiptoeing around the news that wages are growing faster than inflation – nobody wants to be first to say the cost of living crisis is over, after years of soaring prices. But households themselves expect to feel better off over the next year, just in time for the election. People don’t feel better [...]
Wage growth is back with a bang as unemployment falls below 7pc April 16, 2014 Perhaps finally an ease to consumer budgets, and a chance that the "cost of living crisis" meme may start to fade away. For the first time since July 2009, the Office for National Statistics' measure of average earnings growth may now exceed headline inflation. Yesterday saw headline consumer price inflation fall to a four and [...]
Real wages may rise, but earnings are still set for a lost decade April 15, 2014 This morning’s official figures confirmed another drop in inflation, with consumer prices rising by only 1.6 per cent in the year to February, the lowest in four and a half years. Average weekly earnings rose 1.7 per cent in the year to January, with private sector earnings up 1.9 per cent, and even stronger growth [...]