imutual.co.uk

UK employment total hits record high.

Story here:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46958560

The number of people in work in the UK has reached a record high of 32.54 million, latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show.

Unemployment was flat, with a small increase of 8,000 between September and November for a total of 1.37 million.

Average earnings excluding bonuses increased by 3.3% in the year to November, as wage rises continued to outpace inflation.

The number of job vacancies rose by 10,000 to a record high of 853,000.

ONS head of labour market David Freeman said: "The number of people working grew again, with the share of the population in work now the highest on record.

"Meanwhile, the share of the workforce looking for work and unable to find it remains at its lowest for over 40 years, helped by a record number of job vacancies.

Without wishing to through too much of a damper on good news, the thing those figures don’t show is the extent of under-employment – people with part time jobs who want to work full time; professionals who would be reluctant to call themselves unemployed but only have sporadic contract work, and people who have taken lower level jobs than their skills and experience would suggest.

pabenny wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 22 2019 2:31pm

Without wishing to through too much of a damper on good news, the thing those figures don’t show is the extent of under-employment – people with part time jobs who want to work full time; professionals who would be reluctant to call themselves unemployed but only have sporadic contract work, and people who have taken lower level jobs than their skills and experience would suggest.

Let's assume you are right.

What makes you think that anything of these things have changed since, oh 1971?

The ONS has data on underemployment and overemployment, for example
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlab ... ymentemp16

I have no idea what the data says, mind you, I haven't looked at it.

pabenny wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 22 2019 2:31pm

Without wishing to through too much of a damper on good news, the thing those figures don’t show is the extent of under-employment – people with part time jobs who want to work full time; professionals who would be reluctant to call themselves unemployed but only have sporadic contract work, and people who have taken lower level jobs than their skills and experience would suggest.

You may well be right or wrong. The country has record employment and record vacancies. Unemployment is at the lowest level it has been for years. People are welcome to do more than one job if they feel under-employed. The High Street may be changing (slimming down) but it seems to be having little effect on these figures. Perhaps like the High Street the way people work and earn money is also changing and keeping abreast with the times.

OK, I looked at the data.

For the Jul-Sep 2018 quarter the underemployment rate was 7.8%, which is lower than it was in 2010, but a bit higher than the earliest number of 6.8% at the beginning of 2002. What's more interesting is that the overemployment rate was 10.0%.

Not much of a damper at all I'd say.

Patisserie Valerie collapses into administration as rescue talks fail

Story here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46965761

I was thinking of people who are employed part time because they can't get a full time job - or at least not one that suits their needs.

William Joseph1 wrote:People are welcome to do more than one job if they feel under-employed.

Sadly, it's not that easy. Variable hours and variable shift patterns can make it impossible to fit a second job around a first. I recently met someone who was assistant manager at a branch of large fast food chain. Because she couldn't commit to 24/7 availability, she had a zero-hours contract, which gave her about 20-30 hours a week. I'm sure she would have loved to predictable and regular hours.

I'll admit that my assertions about underemployment were based on anecdote. The ONS tables link to a report - itself nearly 10 years old - which discusses the difficulties of defining underemployment. If read it correctly, they point to international definitions of under-employment, which don't capture well the type of scenario I mentioned.

William Joseph1 wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 22 2019 6:18pm

Patisserie Valerie collapses into administration as rescue talks fail

Story here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46965761

Mike Ashley can get them to play up front for Newcastle Utd. If they don't do the job he can at least eat the goods!!!

INTU which owns shopping malls throughout the country could not agree with House of Fraser on rent levels and said they would prefer a number of other outlets instead of one huge one.

Yesterday it was announced that INTU and HoF have come to an agreement and, amongst others, the Norwich branch which covers (I think) three floors will remain open after all. Good news for the workers. Not for me as I have not been into Chapelfield shopping mall for a number of years. Norwich has too many other shops, many of them independents, to have tempted me in.

Another consequence from the declining high street: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/compani ... spartanntp