Earlier this year the Deputy Prime Minister was keen to sing the praises of the Youth Contract, in particular the 160,000 ‘wage incentives’ which were intended to “reduce the cost to employers of taking on a young person from the Work Programme”. The incentive payment of £2,275 for each young person recruited is intended to…
While the case for the introduction of a British investment bank is compelling, the Chancellor’s planned ‘small business bank’ has been met with scepticism from business leaders. Citi economist Michael Saunders sums it up best, suggesting it had been a “misnomer” to call the Government’s plan a bank, and noting that: This new ‘business bank’…
The jobs market continues to confound – with employment rising while GDP falls. But does part of the answer lie with rising self-employment rates?
An interesting Gavyn Davis column in last week’s FT revisited the ongoing debate over whether the Bank of England should be taking additional action to support the economy through ‘unconventional’ forms of QE including central bank purchases of private assets or the establishment of a direct lending institution funded by the Bank (as Adam Posen has argued…
You can read TUC reaction to today’s appalling GDP figures across the blogosphere. Our Deputy General Secretary Frances O’Grady has a post up at the Guardian, and on the Guardian’s Comment is Free blog Duncan Weldon reflects on the comparisons between the rhetoric of the current Government and those who were in power in the…
Today’s TUC unemployment analysis highlights the fact that while recent labour market statistics have brought some better news (with full-time employee jobs on the rise, and headline unemployment levels falling), long-term unemployment is also on the increase. In particular, the number of 18-24 year olds who have been out of work for more than six…
Today BIS published their new ‘business perceptions survey‘ proudly proclaiming that: The burden of regulation is beginning to lift, according to an independently produced report. Fewer firms cite regulation as an obstacle this year, compared with recent years. This is correct, but is to somewhat understate the main finding of the report, which is that…
Today’s Budget contained no help at all for young unemployed people. All we learnt was that: Government also recognises that the best route out of unemployment for some young people will be starting up in business, but that it can be difficult to obtain the skills and capital required. Building on the support already availible,…
The Chancellor claimed that today’s Budget shows that: we’ll be getting five times more money each and every year from the wealthiest in our society Is this true?
Interesting to note that while announcing his personal allowance tax cut the Chancellor failed to mention that ‘the basic rate limit will be reduced, from £34,370 to £32,245 in 2013-14, so most higher rate taxpayers will get one quarter of the benefit a typical basic rate taxpayer will receive’ (page 29). Firstly, this means that…