Unemployment down to 5.6%

antrobus

Spidernick wrote: »

...As for the stats themselves: any stats, especially those with a political angle, can be interpreted in a way that suits any position to the extent that they become all but meaningless.

How would you 'interpret' the fact that are now (for example) 26.3 million full-time employees working 37.5 hours a week, compared to 25.2 million full-time employees working 37.3 hours a week in the same period in 2007?

Spidernick wrote: »

..I'd have thought that the majority of people will go with the anecdotal 'evidence' they see on a day-today basis.

I think it is preferable to go with the ONS numbers. Data that comes from a survey of 100,000 people produced by professional civil servants is far more likely to be correct than data that comes from a survey of 2 or 3 people produced by some random person with a political axe to grind.:)

Graham_Devon

I heard yesterday, fleetingly on the radio that as of january 2015, 700,000 extra people were self employed but paid no tax. Beleived to be for benefit purposes.

Can anyone put any meat on the bones of those figures? Even I thought they were quite high.

(The basic premise is you become self employed, even if it's selling a few items on ebay a week in order to claim more lucrative tax credits).

antrobus

Graham_Devon wrote: »

I heard yesterday, fleetingly on the radio that as of january 2015, 700,000 extra people were self employed but paid no tax. Beleived to be for benefit purposes. .

Can anyone put any meat on the bones of those figures? Even I thought they were quite high. ....

There are currently 4.5 million self employed. It is quite possible that there has been an increase in the number that don't pay tax, given that the threshold has been whacked up to £10,500.

Graham_Devon wrote: »

...(The basic premise is you become self employed, even if it's selling a few items on ebay a week in order to claim more lucrative tax credits).

Anectodally, that has been happening. It's a function of the way that Brown's WTC system operates. Universal Credit is supposed to nullify that.

padington

Labour day we've not had a had a bigger drop in wages over a five year period since 1874

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1633409/Historic-inflation-calculator-value-money-changed-1900.html

lucielou5

I'm afraid the foodbanks thing I no very little about, I know personally I always keep a cushion of money at the expense of going out, buying things or even spending the bare minimum on food so even if the worst had happened I would not have been penniless while waiting to receive benefits but perhaps it is unfair to expect everyone to have the intelligence to love their live in a sensible rational manner?[/QUOTE]

So by definition people who use food banks are not intelligent, sensible or rational?
You're right......you know nothing about the food banks 'thing'. Doesn't stop you generalising though.
*sighs and moves on*

CLAPTON

lucielou5 wrote: »

I'm afraid the foodbanks thing I no very little about, I know personally I always keep a cushion of money at the expense of going out, buying things or even spending the bare minimum on food so even if the worst had happened I would not have been penniless while waiting to receive benefits but perhaps it is unfair to expect everyone to have the intelligence to love their live in a sensible rational manner?

So by definition people who use food banks are not intelligent, sensible or rational?
You're right......you know nothing about the food banks 'thing'. Doesn't stop you generalising though.
*sighs and moves on*

why not take the opportunity to tell us about the people who use food banks?
some details of their circumstances, their income , how they came to be using food banks etc

michaels

lucielou5 wrote: »

So by definition people who use food banks are not intelligent, sensible or rational?
You're right......you know nothing about the food banks 'thing'. Doesn't stop you generalising though.
*sighs and moves on*

As I said, I know very little about why people use food banks. I know that in the past when I have had extremely low and variable income I have lived like a monk whenever I did have any money (no TV let alone no Sky) to make sure that I never had no money in the bank. I certainly never used credit if I could help it to avoid paying the excessive fees but the trick was not just going without (going out, drinking alcohol, having a TV) when I couldn't afford it but also doing so when I did have a few quid in the bank in order not to be in trouble if the income dried up.

buglawton

CLAPTON wrote: »

it's a mystery to me why every country in the world doesn't copy the German model.

Presumably you were here in 2007 when UK unemployment was round 6% and German 10% and begging for us to copy 'their' model.

They did copy the best bits of what they saw in Britain - labour flexibility and deregulation in particular. Hence that astonishing turnaround, when you consider that the old E. Germany had to be carried and modernised too.

Only problem is, the UK did not copy any best bits from Germany - productivity, banks that invest for the long term in real businesses and housing policy.

Housing is a particular no-brainer that no UK govt seems to be able to tackle apart from headline grabbing subsidies to buyers with no early plan to increase stock.

Germany 2012 - 200,000 residential units built
http://www.refire-online.com/features/markets/german-housing-construction-building-permits-show-steep-rise/
(but it's been running at around 150,000 pa for many years before)

UK 2012 - 100,000
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/house-building-in-england-october-to-december-2012

A quick check here shows that UK rent per sq. meter is 50% higher then Germany
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=Germany&country2=United+Kingdom

CLAPTON

buglawton wrote: »

They did copy the best bits of what they saw in Britain - labour flexibility and deregulation in particular. Hence that astonishing turnaround, when you consider that the old E. Germany had to be carried and modernised too.

Only problem is, the UK did not copy any best bits from Germany - productivity, banks that invest for the long term in real businesses and housing policy.

Housing is a particular no-brainer that no UK govt seems to be able to tackle apart from headline grabbing subsidies to buyers with no early plan to increase stock.

Germany 2012 - 200,000 residential units built
http://www.refire-online.com/features/markets/german-housing-construction-building-permits-show-steep-rise/
(but it's been running at around 150,000 pa for many years before)

UK 2012 - 100,000
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/house-building-in-england-october-to-december-2012

A quick check here shows that UK rent per sq. meter is 50% higher then Germany
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=Germany&country2=United+Kingdom

Germany is lucky to have less 'help' from their government : something we should indeed copy. Less restrictive planning laws and so easier to build.
However, Germany has had higher unemployment that the UK for many of the last couple of decades.

I suppose it is some sort of complement to the UK government that they can be criticised are not always the best in the world all of the time and at everything.

lucielou5

CLAPTON wrote: »

why not take the opportunity to tell us about the people who use food banks?
some details of their circumstances, their income , how they came to be using food banks etc

Blimey! All that personal info on thousands of people. That is going to be one hell of a post.
If you are really interested in finding out more (and I mean this respectfully) do the research. Read personal accounts, check out the findings. It's all out there.
Better still, take a few hours to volunteer and really see what it's all about. It's an eye opener.