Wednesday 14 May 2014

UK jobless at 5 year low

Some interesting thoughts though in reaction to this news:

- There are still heaps of part-time workers who cannot find full time work or don't want to.
- The massive rise in self-employment continues unabated

Both of these two measures may well herald a permanent shift in the jobs markets. People are feeling from full-time PAYE work in order to work less but potentially earn more post-tax. Self-employment certainly is more likely to result in lower taxes than PAYE, even if it also correlates with lower income.

- Overall joblessness is has dropped quite a lot in the year, about 250,000

 Surely this is very bad for Labour and their constant attacks on the economy, cost of living etc?

Finally, years and years ago I wrote that all studies show it take 7 years to get over a financial crisis and here we are , just 2 months of the seven year anniversary of Northern Wreck going under!

3 comments:

Blue Eyes said...

I agree. I think flexible working, whether you call it "ZERO HOURS!!!" or multiple freelancing or being self-employed or doing a bit of this and a bit of that is only going to increase. We no longer all work for life for huge employers and I don't it would be a good idea to go back to that.

A friend of mine is a good example of this: an actor who does some freelancing and some temping and a bit of semi-permanent office-based work with flexible hours and days off. She gets offered "full-time" work all the time but prefers not to be committed so that she can take up the work she actually wants when it comes up.

One of the reasons it has taken so long to get past the financial crisis is that the authorities spent so long pretending there was not a crisis. It's weird in retrospect. Interest rates were put UP in July 2007 and didn't collapse until well after Lehman's did.

The trick now is to make sure this momentum is sustained. And that means spending cuts so that interest rates don't have to rise to choke everything off.

Electro-Kevin said...

Will it stop UKIP ?

Blue's spending cuts (and I agree they should happen) means that much of the newly confident private sector (that dealing in domestic services to state employees, ie builders, restaurants, nail painters...) will feel the pinch too.

Interest rates will rise (.5% forever ?). Cheap property will come on the market, a fall in house prices perhaps - less confidence among the newly confident home owners.

I think this 'recovery' is a false one.

The real issue to focus on is getting our country back.



Bill Quango MP said...

I can stop UKIP.

I shall post how on Friday.