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National Minimum Wage turns 15 – but it still fails to help those most in need

Len Shackleton

5 August 2013

2 comments

Last week, the National Minimum Wage (NMW) celebrated its fifteenth birthday. It has not been the disaster some feared – largely because the Low Pay Commission set rates conservatively, taking...

Increasing the minimum wage ignores economic realities

Stephanie Lis

16 April 2013

2 comments

In economically uncertain times, the government should strive to remove all blockages to employment, not create more. The national minimum wage is one such blockage. Whilst forced pay hikes may...

Fears about welfare overuse are not unfounded

Kristian Niemietz

3 April 2013

8 comments

These are frustrating times to be a Guardian journalist. The welfare cuts, which the paper has been fighting so hard, are now taking effect – and the public’s response does not remotely...

Paul Krugman and the recoveryless job explosion

Philip Booth

13 March 2013

5 comments

Fortunately, as I am in Iceland at the moment, I managed to miss yet another appearance on Newsnight by Paul Krugman. However, I gather that he said: ‘The British economy is somehow employing...

The failing policies of Francois Hollande

Emmanuel Martin

5 March 2013

comments

French president Francois Hollande is walking on a tightrope. Many of the promises he has made seem to be untenable. Firstly, Mr. Hollande has failed to ‘stimulate’ French growth. The...

The poverty industry's weird anti-work agenda

Kristian Niemietz

26 February 2013

3 comments

If you want to get an idea of the poverty industry’s attitude towards poor people, think of an ultra-overprotective parent, who thinks the best way to spare their children from experiencing...

Jobs guarantee plan is likely to redistribute unemployment rather than reduce it overall

Len Shackleton

8 January 2013

2 comments

The Labour Party has created a stir in advance of today’s vote on restricting benefit increases by proposing a ‘jobs guarantee’ for 130,000 long-term unemployed. This would be...

Living Wage likely to destroy jobs and increase poverty

Len Shackleton

11 September 2012

2 comments

Last week Ed Miliband suggested that a new Labour government could introduce a requirement for all government contractors to pay a ‘living wage’ well in excess of the national minimum...

The benefits cap is popular - but it isn't right

Tim Leunig

27 January 2012

10 comments

The government’s proposed £26,000 cap on benefits for those out of work applies irrespective of circumstances and the family’s history. It will hit two groups: those with very...

What needs to be done in Spain?

Ángel Martín Oro

12 December 2011

1 comment

Almost everyone expected the Socialist Party to lose the recent Spanish elections by a wide margin. Their mismanagement of the economic crisis destroyed their credibility with the Spanish people,...

Regulation is deterring employers from taking on new workers

Len Shackleton

16 November 2011

1 comment

The labour market statistics released today do not make the greatest reading. UK unemployment rose by 129,000 in the three months to September, with youth unemployment rising above a million. As...

What would Einstein say about the London riots?

Kristian Niemietz

10 November 2011

4 comments

It was Albert Einstein who once said: ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results each time.’ He did not have social policies...

Time to unshackle the labour market

Kristian Niemietz

23 September 2011

1 comment

It may seem like a tale from a bygone age, but not that long ago the UK was envied by many of its neighbours for its impressive labour market performance. In the decade from 1998 to 2008, while the...

Keynesian paradoxes

G. R. Steele

18 August 2011

6 comments

Keynes gave little thought to generalities. He acknowledged that his prescriptions were limited to the special circumstances of the 1930s. With Bolshevism in mind, any fiscal deficit spending was...

Oil prices and inflation

G. R. Steele

14 March 2011

2 comments

Inflation is the process whereby ‘things’ – balloons, tyres, opinions, etc. – wbecome enlarged. Deflation is the reverse process. In economics, inflation generally refers to...

Are women being disproportionately hit by job losses?

Len Shackleton

19 November 2010

comments

A big fanfare this week for the employment and unemployment data from the Office of National Statistics. Overall unemployment fell slightly – good news – but the headlines...

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