If employment is at its highest rate since 1971, why are wages and the tax take in the doldrums?
Full-time employment is on the rise in the UK [Image: SolStock/Getty Images].
We’re told employment is at its highest rate on record, but wage rises are below inflation, and what is the tax take?
If the Treasury isn’t in receipt of more money, then the employment figure means nothing.
We know productivity is lagging behind the other G7 countries.
And what about the factory closures that have recently been announced?
I asked Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Debbie Abrahams, what it all meant.
She responded:
Yeah, we're drilling down into the data, Mike. Will keep you informed.
— Debbie Abrahams MP (@Debbie_abrahams) January 25, 2018
So we’ll have to wait and see.
Keep an eye on Vox Political. I’ll keep you informed.
The pressure on employers to find skilled staff appeared to push up wages by more than expected in November as UK job vacancies reached a new peak.
City economists had expected the uncertainty surrounding the Brexit talks to limit wage rises, excluding bonuses, to 2.3%, the same rate as in October, but they increased to 2.4% in the three months to November. The figure rose to 2.5% when bonuses were included.
Vacancies hit the highest level since comparable records began in 2001, up 60,000 on a year earlier at 810,000.
Further indications that the labour market remained in rude health could be found in figures for the total number of people in employment, which hit 32.2 million, the highest on record.
The Office for National Statistics also said the employment rate, which measures the proportion of 16- to 64-year-olds in work, reached 75.3%, a figure that was higher than for a year earlier and the joint highest since comparable records began in 1971.
Source: UK job vacancies and numbers employed both hit record highs | Business | The Guardian
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The DWP focuses solely on the number of jobs created and not their poor quality. Meanwhile, low-wage and zero-hour contact jobs abound. And that is one reason for the tax revenue shortfall. The other might be tax avoidance and evasion by the wealthy.
Highest rate of unemployment? Due to record “Off Flow” no doubt – those refusing to sign on for Job Centre abuse.
stacking shelves at those slave market charities
It’s because people are ’employed’ doing their CVs all week or job searches. This is what counts as employment these days.
The fact is that both Tory and Labour governments have been finding ever more inventive ways to fiddle these statistics for so long now that they have become utterly meaningless. You might as well take the numbers from the last Lotto draw to indicate the overall health of the economy.
Too True, but add to this the Savings from all the cuts, where are they? Yes I know, in the pockets off the wealthy.
Everyone who has been sanctioned is counting as employed because they are no longer claiming any benefits
Many of those are on the streets.
On 1971 wages, you can afford to employ many more people! I’ve just been doing my accounts, having done my best paid work ever, to discover that the last time that I had a year this good was back in 2006, which was exceptional. In effect, My wages have been stagnant since my professional career began. I’ve been told, by a collegue, that our wages have not changed in 30 years! That’s back to 1988 (this year has all but begun). Another 17 years and we’ll have done it! At this rate, I’ll ave no chance of getting my own place, or a family to raise in it.