Andy Haldane, chief economist if the Bank of England, believes that even modest management improvements amongst complacent companies could lead to an overall productivity leap. The FT recently reported the success story of a four-decade-old glassworks at Cumbria Crystal near the Lake District, where molten glass is still blown by mouth and where […]
Continue ReadingAs with the USA, improving the UK’s sagging productivity is a big economic issue. One of the issues is developing skills and SMEs are often happy to help support this by taking on apprentices. However, currently such employers have to pay full wage for the 2 days a week or so that apprentices are at college (less […]
Continue ReadingWith currently demonstrated technologies available today, McKinsey estimate that in the USA at least, 60% of all occupations could see 30% of their constituent human activities automated… This is higher in workplaces involves performing physical activities or operating machinery in a predictable environment. In this environment workers carry out specific actions in well-known settings where […]
Continue ReadingUnfortunately, according to the Office of National Statistics in February 2016, “The U.K.’s ‘productivity gap’ of about 14% is about twice as large as the gap for the rest of the G7” Quoted in the FT, Ann Francke, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), said one problem is that in the […]
Continue ReadingDespite the rise of populism, the economic scorecard for the last 50 years hasn’t been that bad under the old liberal regime, where half the people who have ever lived, live now. Some extracts from the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) report “A World of Change” below: The world population grew from 3 billion in 1965 […]
Continue ReadingAs we have said before, productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run it is almost everything…this was Nobel prize-winning economist, Paul Krugman’s statement that a country’s ability to improve its standard of living over time depends almost entirely on its ability to raise its output per worker hour. As Martin Wolf points out in today’s […]
Continue ReadingAccess to finance. The British Business Bank (BBB) comes under fire for its lack lustre performance in providing effective routes to finance for SMEs. Barry James, writing an open letter to chancellor, Philip Hammond in Real Business points out that 99% of companies are SMEs and they employ half of employed people outside government. He […]
Continue ReadingThe FT’s City Editor Jonathan Guthrie commented after the Brexit referendum that “…Two tribes, it transpires went to war on polling day. Remainers, whose beliefs reflect economics, and Leavers, whose economics reflect their beliefs. Unless the first group can understand and win over the second, the prospects for both look equally grim…” It is true […]
Continue ReadingRemain kind, remain open, remain inclusive, remain tolerant, remain together. Vote Remain…
Continue ReadingAccording Nobel prize-winning economist, Paul Krugman, a country’s ability to improve its standard of living over time depends almost entirely on its ability to raise its output per worker. If countries are to grow, either its people need to work harder (or longer…), or they need to increase immigration (as the US, UK and Germany […]
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