Economics

Trades Union Congress general secretary Frances O’ Grady today called for working weeks to be cut to four days as technological advances increase efficiency. Rather than a threat to their jobs, technology should be a way to let British workers have a better work life balance and spend more time with their families, the TUC boss believes. Addressing the TUC congress this week O’Grady warned that for too long now the multinationals that have benefitted the most from new technology...

While high income households gain financially by switching to metering, a study suggests that less well off families are, on average, around £10 worse off

Retells story of how these unique creatures colonised the Island

UK unemployment fell by 65,000 to 1.36 million in three months to June - the lowest for more than 40 years. They also show a rise in productivity, but a slowdown in wage growth. The official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on unemployment revealed that: 5% unemployment in London is near record low (persons aged 16-64, April-June 2018), driven in particular by fewer young people and fewer women out of work. The young person (18-24 year old) unemployment...

There has been an outcry after news emerged that the tax delivery giant Amazon pays in the UK has fallen despite profits almost tripling. Amazon’s turnover was nearly £2 billion in the UK and its profits leapt. Yet the internet delivery giant’s taxes fell, partly due to being able to pay some of the staff in shares. Amazon UK’s taxes fell to just £1.7 million last year, down from £7.4 million in 2016. Billionaire Jeff Bezos's company says it pays...

The Bank of England’s interest rate hike has been slammed as “premature” by the CEO of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisations, who added the rate decision could be “motivated to protect reputations.” Nigel Green, founder and chief executive of deVere Group, is speaking out after the governor of the UK’s central bank, Mark Carney, announced today (Thursday) a rate rise from 0.5 per cent to 0.75 per cent, taking the UK's base rate of interest to...

Jacob Rees-Mogg has suggested it could take 50 years to judge whether Brexit has been an economic success. The dire warning comes as the leading Brexiteer launched a second fund in Ireland. Somerset Capital Management (SCM), which ploughs millions of pounds into emerging markets, created the fund to meet demand from international investors. The UK’s withdrawal from the EU has forced many asset managers to set up replica product ranges in European investment hubs such as Dublin and Luxembourg in order to...

A coalition of environmental groups have warned that a no deal Brexit could have catastrophic consequences for the environment. Greener UK have published a paper that highlights the potential environmental problems that are likely to happen if the British government can not sign an agreement with the EU. The group, which includes WWF, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have said that a No deal Brexit would make UK ‘dumping ground’ for chemicals banned in Europe. Shaun Spiers, chair of...

A new report out today has revealed Artificial Intelligence (AI) will create as many jobs as it displaces by boosting economic growth in the UK. In absolute terms, around 7 million existing jobs could be displaced, but around 7.2 million could be created, giving the UK a small net jobs boost of around 0.2 million. While the overall net effect of AI on UK jobs may be broadly neutral, this varies significantly across industry sectors. The most positive effect of AI is...