Unemployment Down, Wages up - any explanations?

michaels

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42337659

Unemployment down, wage growth up.

What could have caused it? Can't be the reduction in inward migration as we have been assured by businesses on multiple occasions that this is having no impact at all on wages or productivity.....

Eric_the_half_a_bee

michaels wrote: »

What could have caused it? Can't be the reduction in inward migration as we have been assured by businesses on multiple occasions that this is having no impact at all on wages or productivity.....

These will be the same businesses that are complaining about the prospect of massive labour shortages?

michaels

Eric_the_half_a_bee wrote: »

These will be the same businesses that are complaining about the prospect of massive labour shortages?

Yep, the very same ones who may have to pay workers more and or invest in higher productivity to keep on top of costs rather than just adding ever more cheap labour.

Carl31

Cant be the Brexit vote, leave voters don't understand things like numbers, must be some sort of economic Armageddon in a different form

GreatApe

michaels wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42337659

Unemployment down, wage growth up.

What could have caused it? Can't be the reduction in inward migration as we have been assured by businesses on multiple occasions that this is having no impact at all on wages or productivity.....

Are we reading the same article?

Says wages increased less than inflation so in real terms they are down

Headline unemployment figures are less important than the 6+ unemployment rate and the full time to part time ratios.

Eric_the_half_a_bee

Are we reading the same article?

Says wages increased less than inflation so in real terms they are down

Nominal wages are rising. Inflation is widely forecast to fall. The picture for real terms wages is improving. Despite Brexit.

GreatApe

michaels wrote: »

Yep, the very same ones who may have to pay workers more and or invest in higher productivity to keep on top of costs rather than just adding ever more cheap labour.

Invest in higher productivity is a misnomer. There is not really some magic technology just waiting that dim employers are forgoing for the sake of paying a Romanian £7.50 an hour.

Productivity improvements are global they dont really care about the number of Romanians we employ or dont employ. The Americans will create self driving software and general AI irrespective of our immigration policies. The Japanese will create more automated factories irrespective of us being in or out of the EU.

The way to boost productivity in a predominantly service economy is to fire people sitting around all day just posting on forums doing their amazon shopping checking out Facebook and pretending to be working at their desk 40 hours a week to do 2 hours of actual work.

To improve productivity the large businesses need to fire 10-30% of their workforce.
Maybe we do need to get out of the EU for that to happen
Maybe wages will go up 10% and businesses will need to cut back 10% of their workforce.
So all those sitting at their office desk jobs posting and complaining about the Romanians taking the fish gutting jobs well they may be the 10% that get let go from the pretend make office jobs and will have to take the fish gutting jobs. Productivity will then improve although their own personal circumstances of 4 hours work a week to be paid for 40 hours will have to change to 40 hours of fish guts.

Like I keep saying without the migrants we will have to do the low paid low status jobs

Thrugelmir

Over the past 30 years technology has dumbed jobs down and removed tiers of immediate mangement. Besides which people are in general less hard working. No need to be. There's a state safety net.

GreatApe

ilovehouses wrote: »

Or choose not to do them at all. I can't see Brits taking to the fields of Lincolnshire to pick Brussels Sprouts in this weather.

Don't be silly the Brits will gut the fish and collect the sprouts

Right now they dont have to as the mass migrants pushed the natives up the skill and pay grades but without the migrants the bits would do those jobs and will have to accept the lower status and pay that comes with it.

mayonnaise

Carl31 wrote: »

Cant be the Brexit vote, leave voters don't understand things like numbers

The numbers are not that hard to understand - even for Leave voters.
Real term wages down.
56,000 fewer people in work.
115,000 people added to the 'economically inactive'.
Claimant count rises by 6,000.

kabayiri

Why would migrants uproot and move across Europe just to spend the next 50 years picking sprouts?

They wouldn't. They do the job until they can dump it on another newer mugsky.