Download the 16th TUC Recession Report

Today we’ve published our 16th and final Recession Report. From next month we will be moving to a shorter monthly Labour Market Report and a bi-monthly Economic Report. The latest labour market figures cover the
period October to December 2009, and show that 2,457,000 people were unemployed by the ILO measure − down 1,000 (effectively unchanged) compared with last month’s release, which covered September – November. Youth unemployment fell a little, with 725,000 18 – 24 year olds unemployed – 3,000 fewer than last month. Overall, these are quite good results – especially the fall in youth unemployment – but it is far too early to say we no longer need to worry about employment. Read more »

   Filed under: Equality, Labour market, Recession, Recession Report | 1 Comment »

Looks like we had it wrong all along. It must be a middle class recession – the Job Centre have just launched an iPhone app.

Meanwhile, outside the Twittersphere… Read more »

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We’ve just published a new review of the impacts that the recent downturn has had for women at work, and examining how proposed public sector cuts might have a heavy impact on working women and families.

I’ve written a post about the issue for Progress Online, which you can read over here.

   Filed under: Equality, Labour market, Public services, Public spending, Recession, unemployment | 1 Comment »

The old joke “what’s a Greek urn?” has a new and depressing rejoinder: “a lot less than they did before the speculators arrived”. Throughout Greece, wages, pensions and services that ordinary people rely on are being slashed, and higher sales taxes are hitting their pockets, in an effort to compensate for the greed and speculation of a few ‘Lords of Finance’.

At the ETUC, we’re increasingly concerned that Greece seems to be alone to face a renewed wave of financial market speculation, as heavily leveraged speculators take advantage of Greece’s debt crisis, exacerbating the country’s situation for a heavy profit. The European Council, the European Central Bank and the European Commission are giving an entirely wrong message: The speculators are to be left alone, whilst workers and governments are being pressed to cut wages, social benefits and public services. Read more »

   Filed under: Europe, Recession, Transactions tax | 2 Comments »

Today the Resolution Foundation launches two reports exploring the financial health of low earners. The Low Earners Audit takes an overview of how the UK’s 7.2 million households living on below median income but independently of state support are faring in the recession. Behind the Balance Sheet complements this overview by going beyond the front door and exploring how low income households juggle their money on a daily basis.

Month after month the Labour Market Statistics drive home the point that it is the UK’s 9.4 million working age low earners, not the middle class bankers, who have been worst hit by this recession. As a report we published last year showed, unemployment increases have been steepest in industries and occupations where low-skilled, low paid work is concentrated. People in typical low earner occupations are more likely than others to remain out of work for more than six months. Read more »

   Filed under: Earnings, Recession, unemployment | 3 Comments »

Some media coverage of today’s statistics suggests that unemployment is now rising sharply again. While future redundancies remain likely, and the ILO measure (which has fallen for 4 out of the 5 previous months) may well increase into 2010, the reality is that despite seeing record GDP falls, the labour market impacts of the recession have been nowhere near as bad as previous downturns. Read more »

   Filed under: Labour market, Recession | 2 Comments »

Reporting of pay trends in recent months has fallen back on a bunch of shared assumptions about what people have been paid last year and are likely to be paid this year. Unfortunately a lot of them are just plain wrong.

Here’s my top ten pay myths – see how many you can spot in your favourite newspaper: Read more »

   Filed under: Earnings, Recession | 1 Comment »

The Financial Times’ lead editorial today says that a global financial transactions tax is a non-starter, and then goes on to explain all the problems with a global bank levy – almost all of which would be solved by a global financial transactions tax. It ends, spilling the beans, by attributing to cynics the idea that the banks “have calculated that if they must concede something, insurance is the least-worst option.” I must be a cynic then, because that’s precisely what I wrote when bank levy fever swept Davos last month! And the Robin Hood Tax campaign launched this week (covered by almost every major news outlet apart from the Financial Times) will ensure that a financial transactions tax is anything but a non-starter. Read more »

   Filed under: Beyond Crisis, Recession, Tax | No Comments »

In the UK we call it the Robin Hood Tax. In Germany, it’s the Tax Against Poverty. And in the US it’s the financial speculation tax. But in all those countries – and many more – popular campaigns are building support for a financial transactions tax to raise money for public services, combating poverty and tackling climate change. Existing groups like Americans for Financial Reform and Europeans for Financial Reform (the latter set up by the ETUC and the Party of European Socialists) are also backing these campaigns. Read more »

   Filed under: Beyond Crisis, Financial crisis, G20, Recession, Tax | 1 Comment »

Back when cuts mania was all the rage during the conference season of 2009, only the TUC, others on the left and serious commentators like Martin Wolf argued that cuts came with major economic consequences.  The TUC argued particularly strongly that to start measures to address the deficit when the economy was still fragile threatened a double dip recession.  These views were of course rejected by the small state right in the form of the Institute of Directors, the Taxpayers Alliance and the Conservative Party itself. Read more »

   Filed under: Politics, Public services, Public spending, Recession | 4 Comments »