Anjum Klair
Analysis by the TUC published today shows, if they become unemployed, low-paid workers such as cleaners, catering assistants and machine operators are most likely to be on the dole for more than six months.
The analysis shows that as unemployment rises and the number of job vacancies fall, a growing proportion of unemployed people are staying on the dole for over six months, and this is affecting low-paid workers more than others.
Owen Tudor
I’ve tried to summarise all the aspects of last week’s EU summit conclusions elsewhere, but one issue really needs separate attention. Cameron’s claim that he exercised his veto in Britain’s interests has won plaudits from the right-wing media, but needs to be exposed as the most staggering hyperbole, and as the proof that his Government exists for the benefit of the few and not the many. The key issue on which Cameron split from the rest of Europe was the Robin Hood Tax – something he claims to support at a global level. As the Robin Hood Tax campaign said, this demonstrates absolutely that the current Government of the UK puts the interests of the small number of super-rich hedge fund owners who pay the Conservative Party’s bills ahead of the vast mass of the people of Britain and of Europe.
Owen Tudor
The dust won’t settle from last week’s bust-up in Brussels for some time, with many describing David Cameron’s isolated refusal to take part in EU Treaty reform as a fundamental change in Britain’s relationship with the EU. Quite a few on the left are judging Cameron’s decision as – while diplomatically inept and for all the wrong reasons – the right decision. He’s not the only one who doesn’t see Treaty reform as what Europe needs, although what we want to see from Europe is a strategy for growth rather than, as some have described it, the criminalisation of Keynesianism.
And the deal is unlikely to be a crucial one anyway, because it doesn’t address the problems that actually face Europe and the rest of the developed world. ETUC General Secretary Bernadette Segol said:
“Europe needs a social compact, guaranteeing non-intervention of the EU in wage setting mechanisms, the autonomy of social partners, protecting and promoting our social model. ETUC will demand that a social progress protocol be included in any revision of the Treaty or in any new Treaty.”
Richard Exell
Before it all ended so badly, the Prime Minister used to boast that part of the price he would demand for agreeing to a revision of the Lisbon Treaty was a relaxation of the Working Time Directive. This has become something of a totem for de-regulationists but you have to ask yourself: why?
Thursday’s report on Hours Worked in the Labour Market showed that average hours worked in Britain have been coming down in good times and bad.
Richard Exell
Here’s an interesting idea – at least it helped me to look at European economies in a new light.
We’re used to making economic comparisons between the UK and other European countries but, of course, the UK average obscures the difference between different regions. Today’s publication of Eurostat’s Regional Yearbook got me wondering: how does unemployment in the regions and nations of the UK look in the European context?
Philip Pearson
As the restive crowds gather at the UN centre in Durban, the ITUC has issued a final appeal to governments to “make a U-turn on the road they are taking to climate disaster.” After two weeks of negotiations, the talks are entering their final hours with negotiations expected to continue into the early hours of Saturday morning. ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said:
“Negotiators are taking us further away from the goal of capping the rise of the earth temperature to 2 degrees. The gap between the science and decision makers is widening, which will leave a terrible impact for the planet and people.
Duncan Weldon
The TUC’s latest economic report was released just ahead of the Autumn Statement. It predicted that the Chancellor would have to raise his borrowing forecasts by over £120bn – in the end he raised them by £158bn. This bit of over-optimism (or rather under-pessimism) aside it is still worth a read.
Duncan Weldon
The early analysis of the European summit are concentrating on the politics – Britain’s return to a form of ‘splendid isolation’ and what this means for the UK’s relationship with the EU in the years to come. (The Economist’s Bagehot is especially good on this).
Whilst the politics are of course of huge importance, I can’t help but feel that the economics are a more immediate concern in the days, weeks and months ahead. This summit was after all about resolving the Eurozone crisis not about the UK’s relationship with Europe.
The news on this front is bleak.
Citi now expect that European GDP will fall for the next six quarters something not experienced by Japan in the 1990s. 18 months of renewed recession is a grim prospect.
Philip Pearson
After nearly two weeks of stalled progress at the Durban climate conference, U.S. youth spoke out today for a real, science-based climate treaty. Abigail Borah, a New Jersey resident, interrupted the start of lead U.S. negotiator Todd Stern’s speech to “call out” members of Congress for impeding global climate progress, delivering a passionate plea for an urgent path towards a fair and binding climate treaty. She was then ejected by security, but not before her delivery was applauded by the entire plenary.
The South African Presidency had warned stakeholders to ‘interact but don’t cause tensions’. This follows the ejection yesterday of six young Canadian activists from the conference. ETUC Confederal Secretary Judith Kirton-Darling reports from Durban that:
“We are apparently important as representatives of the world’s population, but we are told that negotiations are built on trust and that stakeholders should interact “without causing tensions”. I sense that there is ‘expectation management’ going on, the Presidency was keen to stress that the whole process has been ‘Party-driven’ and therefore the Presidency has no expectations.”