When the economic shocks that cause recessions in different economies have large common components, there may be lessons to be learned by studying how different economies respond write Thomas F. Cooley, B. Ravikumar, and Peter Rupert in Bouncing Back from the Great Recession: The United States Versus Europe in Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Economic Synopses (Adapted … Continue reading
More than a year after the introduction of the government’s ambitious Work Programme, the CIPD warns today that it needs to build on the scheme’s early progress by increasing awareness and understanding of the scheme amongst employers. In a survey of more than 1,000 employers, drawn from all three main sectors of the economy, the … Continue reading
Engineering graduates will be pleased to learn that jobs and investment in the UK power and gas sector experienced strong growth between 2007 and 2011, with results for 2012 expected to be similarly positive. That’s according to the recently released 2012 Powering the UK report, compiled by Ernst & Young on behalf of Energy UK. … Continue reading
There were 808,000 births in the UK last year, of which 196,000 were children born to non-UK born women – or 24 per cent. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows there has been a steady increase in the number of children born to mothers who were born abroad since 2001, when the … Continue reading
Number of civil servants declined by 5,000 in quarter, and number of health workers is higher than three years ago Government plans to cut the public sector payroll appear to be faltering, as official figures revealed a sharp slowdown in job cuts across Whitehall and local government over the summer. The number of civil servants … Continue reading
“Despite improvements in the overall employment rate, long-term unemployment has hit a 16 year high remains a serious problem, with more than 900,000 people out of work for more than a year. The long-term unemployed should be offered a guaranteed job to make sure they don’t become permanently cut off from the jobs market.” via … Continue reading
Buckingham Palace was approached by ministers keen for Royal estates to hire young people on a Government-backed programme. But the Queen will instead keep her own apprenticeships for chefs, footmen and housemaids, according to The Times. The response was revealed in a Freedom of Information request about the Apprenticeships Bill, which was in its early … Continue reading
Frances O’Grady – incoming TUC general secretary – has suggested in a Guardian interview today that high unemployment is a deliberate ploy being used by the government to suppress wage claims and destroy employment rights. As she puts it: There was certainly a strong view in the 1980s, not just among trade unions, but also among a number of intellectuals and commentators, that unemployment was being … Continue reading
Individuals had less disposable income to spend on average in the first three months of the year than during any quarter since 2003. Disposable income per head, taking inflation into account, fell by 1% on the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. This measure of income is the amount of cash individuals … Continue reading
Dr Martin Stephen was High Master of St Paul’s from 2004 to 2011. He was previously High Master of Manchester Grammar School and headmaster of The Perse School. Surprised to hear that more than 20,000 graduates from the year of 2011 were still unemployed six months after they graduated? We shouldn’t be. This is a full-scale … Continue reading
More than 900 jobs will be created and thousands more secured after Transport Secretary Justine Greening approved a £4.5bn contract to supply Britain with the next generation of intercity trains. In a major boost to the UK’s manufacturing industry, 596 railway carriages will be built at a brand new train factory in the north east … Continue reading
The figures from the Office for National Statistics are much worse than forecasts for a 0.2pc contraction. It marks the third successive quarter of contraction, leaving Britain in its longest double-dip recession in more than 50 years. The economy shrank by 0.3pc in the first quarter of the year, following a 0.4pc contraction in the … Continue reading
The coalition is investing a record sum in the kind of educational opportunities that 16 to 18 year-olds need Polly Toynbee writes of the “shocking news … that the number of 16-year-olds staying on in education has fallen for the first time in years”. It is hardly shocking when you consider that the fall in … Continue reading
For March to May 2012: The employment rate for those aged from 16 to 64 was 70.7 per cent, up 0.3 on the quarter. There were 29.35 million people in employment aged 16 and over, up 181,000 on the quarter. The unemployment rate was 8.1 per cent of the economically active population, down 0.2 on the … Continue reading
The latest unemployment figures show that the number of over 65s in work has risen by 52,000 to reach 929,000, the highest number since records began in 1992. Yet in the same period, youth unemployment has fallen by just 10,000. (It is now 21.9%, meaning over 1 in 5 under 24s is jobless.) In response … Continue reading