The EU-27 countries have introduced varying degrees of stay-at-home mandates or advisories owing to COVID-19, as has the United Kingdom. As of April 7, almost all of the 230 million employees across the EU-27 and the United Kingdom are affected—through the closing of nonessential shops, implementation of remote working and physical-distancing guidelines, cancellation of events, … Continue reading
Total employment increased by 64,000 (+0.4%) in the last six months of 2015 on gains in part-time work and self employment. Full-time employment was little changed during the second half of the year after notable gains in the first six months (+123,000). Individuals aged 55 and older accounted for all of the net gain in … Continue reading
The study has identified six megatrends for jobs and employment markets over the coming twenty years. The second half of the chessboard The explosion in device connectivity, data volumes and computing speed, combined with rapid advances in automated systems and artificial intelligence means that robotic devices can perform many tasks more quickly, safely and efficiently … Continue reading
“Vocational education and training has been neglected. If “strong vocational programmes increase competitiveness”, “many programmes fail to meet labour market needs” writes the OECD in LEARNING FOR JOBS: SUMMARY AND POLICY MESSAGES. The OCDE review “aims to bridge the gap between learning and jobs, by exploring how to make initial vocational education and training for … Continue reading
A Single European Labor Market, particularly involving the free movement of workers within Europe, has been a goal of the European community since the 1950s. While a Single European Labor Market may create certain drawbacks, it certainly entails benefits that are likely to outweigh the downsides. Labor market experts agree that free labor mobility is … Continue reading
The extent of labor market slack in the UK economy is an ongoing question given the recent unexpectedly rapid fall in the unemployment rate. In the latest data release for February–April, which is referred to as March 2014, it was 6.6 percent, down from 7.9 percent in May 2010 and 7.8 percent in March 2013. … Continue reading
The 2000s saw a significant increase in the foreign-born working-age population in the United Kingdom, in part because of the decision to forgo restrictions on the inflow of workers from the new European Union Member States. Starting in 2004, a large influx of labor from Eastern European countries—especially Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania—transformed the country’s immigrant population and labor market. … Continue reading
Germany’s current economic success offers a good platform for achieving sustainable and inclusive growth, but further reforms will be necessary over the medium and long term, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Germany. Among the priorities are making the tax system more socially just and environment-friendly, strengthening the financial sector, so that it … Continue reading
That data shows that the government’s claims about strong job growth, like Flaherty’s above, are more than a little misleading. A slightly better measure is the unemployment rate. Of the seven years after the Conservatives took office, Canada’s unemployment rate was higher than the OECD average for four years and lower for three. The latest … Continue reading
Reality, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper is discovering, can poke holes in the most elegant of theories. In this case, the theory is the Conservative view of how Canada’s economy works, a view that goes something like this: Yes, the country suffered an economic recession but that’s over. Yes, there is still high unemployment — … Continue reading
Vacancy trends in the European labour market indicate a widening gap in job opportunities between Northern and Southern countries. The latest issue of the European Vacancy Monitor (EVM) reveals a shortage of labour supply in countries such as Austria, Denmark Sweden, Estonia and Latvia, while competition for jobs is increasing in countries such as Greece, … Continue reading
While Canada’s record in raw job creation is not bad (in our calculations, 2nd in the G-7 and 10th in the OECD), job creation alone is a misleading measure of the overall health of Canada’s job market Continue reading
The summary ABS Labour Force (seasonally adjusted) estimates for July 2013 are: Employment decreased 10,200 (0.1 per cent) with full-time employment falling by 6,700 and part-time employment falling by 3,500. Unemployment decreased by 5,700 (0.8 per cent) to 705,400 but only because the labour force shrank on the back of a declining participation rate The … Continue reading
German Labor Minister Ursula von der Leyen said she’ll push to create a Europe-wide labor market with common training, mutually recognized qualifications and language classes Continue reading
Understanding unemployment and wage growth are crucial for understanding developments in the world’s second largest economy, not to mention the future price of everything from Nike sneakers to Apple iPhones. The official data is improving, with new information on migrant worker and private sector wages. But it remains scarce and in some cases unreliable, especially … Continue reading