Skip to main content

Home/ Jacob Solomon's group - M2015(B)/ Group items tagged wages

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
John B

Long-term unemployment: What the U.S. can learn from Sweden - The Term Sheet: Fortune's... - 1 views

finance.fortune.cnn.com/...-long-term-unemployment-sweden

unemployment

shared by John B on 14 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • less than 10% of Americans who were unemployed had been so for more than 27 weeks. Now, 35.8% of unemployed Americans fit into this category.
  • Long-term unemployment is a particularly pernicious problem because of its compounding nature -- long stretches of unemployment erode workers' skills, while employers have an irrational bias against the long-term unemployed.
  • Take Sweden
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • these workers find it harder and harder to find a job.
  • One 2007 study showed that out of six different Swedish programs, whose purposes ranged from worker retraining, helping workers maintain contact with former colleagues, temporary government employment, and employment subsidies, only the latter was effective at bringing down long-term unemployment.
  • A wage subsidy is a program where the government pays part of a worker's check, thus raising the worker's income and inducing firms to hire more workers.
  • Wage subsidies aren't just a potential solution to the debate over the minimum wage. They could also help bring down U.S long-term unemployment as well.
  • Wage subsidies haven't taken off in the U.S., primarily for political reasons.
  • The experience in Sweden shows that this policy can help the long-term unemployed find gainful employment.
  • John B on 14 Apr 14
     
    This article deals with the long-term unemployment issue in the US that have been rising a lot since 2002. One solution to this is to follow one of the Swedish programs, wage subsidies. This have given great results and might be a good solution to the problem in the US as well.
Marenne M

True Costs of So-called Cheap Food | Ellen Gustafson - 0 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...lled-cheap-food_b_4337423.html

'externalities of production'

shared by Marenne M on 26 Nov 13 - No Cached
  • when you look at the prices of so-called "conventional" junk food compared with local, organic fruits and veggies, on a calorie per dollar basis, the junk often wins.
  • Many people assume that it's the produce or organic foods that "cost more" than highly processed, shelf-stable ubiquitous and cheap junk food, but what if the price tags that we see don't tell the whole story?
  • hich requires acres of corn fields, seeds, gallons of water, gas for heavy machinery, pounds of fertilizer and sprays of pesticides, and government subsidies.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • give them antibiotics, deal with their waste, transport them to slaughter, power the slaughter facility, refrigerate the ground meat and then cook it
  • processed wheat bun and condiments.
  • so efficient that all of those costs amortize over tons of ground beef and fixings to make a really cheap burger, or are there parts of that whole list of "costs" that don't actually show up in the price of our fast food burgers?
  • Examples of costs not currently factored into our food supply include the environmental outcomes of chemically-intensive and petroleum-intensive agriculture, costs for soil erosion, real water and irrigation costs, pesticide and waste runoff that creates dead zones in our waterways (like the "New Jersey-sized dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico" that stems from nitrogen runoff from our Corn Belt) and then affects the livelihoods of fishermen and shrimp farmers in the Gulf region.
  • Hidden health costs like our global obesity epidemic and the food-related public health issues of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer are certainly not included in the cost of your fast food meal.
  • unpaid externalities like low wages for food workers that often mean government subsidies like food assistance, which is what over 50 percent of fast food worker families are getting
  • "value" and "low prices" of cheap food that we see at the cash register, are not the whole story
  • We are paying today in our health and our taxes and our children
  • will be paying tomorrow with a degraded environment, dirty water, decimated communities and jobs, and denigrated health.
  • Marenne M on 26 Nov 13
     
    This article describes how processed food and fast food have many negative externalities which in the end makes them cost more than organic foods which are more expensive in the stores. Processed foods may be cheaper than organic food, however the pollution during the process of producing the food, the health problems involved and the low wages which are unpaid for are all consequences which in the end will make these foods cost more.
Marenne M

Wages beat inflation as unemployment falls below 7% | Economy | The Guardian - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...ployment-falls-below-7-percent

trade-off

shared by Marenne M on 11 May 14 - No Cached
  • Marenne M on 11 May 14
     
    This article describes how the trade-off in Britain between unemployment and inflation is improving. It states how finally after several years, the rate of increase in wages is larger than the increase in the rate of inflation, causing a greater demand for work, and decreasing unemployment.
Amanda Anna G

Wage rises outstrip inflation for first time in six years - Telegraph - 1 views

www.telegraph.co.uk/...r-first-time-in-six-years.html

inflation

shared by Amanda Anna G on 17 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • Wage rises outstrip inflation for first time in six years
  • Wage rises are outstripping inflation for the first time in six years, official figures will show on Wednesday, leading to claims that the cost of living crisis is at an end.
  • Inflation figures showed a fall for the sixth month in succession to 1.6 per cent, leading Mr Osborne to say that it was “welcome news for families”. Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics is expected to announce that regular pay is rising at a rate of 1.8 per cent, up from 1.3 per cent.
  • Amanda Anna G on 17 Apr 14
     
    This article is about inflation, and that it has fallen after six months to 1.6 per cent. However, regular pay is  expected to rise in rate from 1.3 per cent to 1.8 per cent. 
Hardy Hewson

Office of National Statistics: Wages Meet Inflation After Six Years - 0 views

www.bbc.co.uk/...business-27047966

inflation wages aggregate government UK

shared by Hardy Hewson on 19 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • Hardy Hewson on 19 Apr 14
     
    This article concerns the publication by the Office of National Statistics that, after six years, the weekly wages have met inflation rates.
Haydn W

Japan's consumer inflation set to reach five-year high | World news | The Guardian - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...sumer-inflation-five-year-high

The Guardian Japan 'Inflation

shared by Haydn W on 19 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • Country sees core consumer prices soar as sales tax hike forms part of PM Shinzo Abe's plan for reviving moribund economy
  • Core consumer prices in Tokyo, a leading indicator of nationwide inflation, appear to have risen by the largest amount for 22 years in April after an increase in Japan's sales tax drove up prices
  • The poll also suggested the headline figure for Japan's nationwide consumer inflation may have reached a five-year high in March
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Higher inflation is a key aim of the economic policies of the country's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who was elected in 2012
  • Japanese consumer prices are expected to keep showing steady headway towards the Bank of Japan's 2% inflation target. But the erosion of consumer spending power due to the sales tax increase – to 8% from 5% – underlines the need for long-stagnant wages to catch up with inflation to underpin consumption and help economic recovery.
  • The core consumer price index for Tokyo, available a month before the nationwide data, is likely to have increased 2.8% in April from a year earlier
  • Haydn W on 19 Apr 14
     
    Japan's inflation rate continues to rise according to this article from the Guardian. Prime minister Shinzo Abe aims to boost the inflation rate in the country to an approximate 2% level but, as typical with many countries, wages have not caught up with these levels and thus consumer spending power has been reduced drastically. Other interesting things to note are the rise in electricity and gas prices contributing to the increased CPI data.
Amanda Anna G

Centre for Policy Studies: Productivity is Key to Securing UK's Economic Recovery - 1 views

www.ibtimes.co.uk/-uks-economic-recovery-1437283

aggregate-demand

shared by Amanda Anna G on 18 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Centre for Policy Studies: Productivity is Key to Securing UK's Economic Recovery
  • Yesterday saw the release of another good set of jobs figures. Employment rose and youth unemployment and long term unemployment fell. Nevertheless, to secure the recovery and generate sustainable real wage rises, we need to break the decade long stagnation in productivity which is holding back our economy.
  • These increases in employment and hours worked have been crucial in restoring economic growth.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • However, at some point the gains to be made from increasing the number of workers and increasing the number of hours will diminish. Education and welfare reforms combined with more robust growth in aggregate demand will cause the pool of available workers to shrink. When we reach that point, productivity will need to rise to support output growth and real wage rises.
  • Weak demand and labour hoarding have often been cited as the causes for this sustained weakness. However, stronger growth in demand in 2013 has not led to significant increases in output per hour. Rising aggregate demand must surely lead to some increases in productivity over time but it is clear that other structural reasons are holding back productivity growth.
  • Amanda Anna G on 18 Mar 14
     
    This article discusses how to secure the UK's economic recovery. It is suggested that increase in employment and hours worked could restore economic growth. At some point, this increase will diminish due to growth in the aggregate demand combined with education and welfare reforms that results in a decrease in the available workers. However, it is argued that rising aggregate demand would lead to increase in the productively over time, but other reasons are holding back productivity growth. 
Zuzanna G

Minimum wage madness - 0 views

www.realclearpolitics.com/...nimum_wage_madness_119954.html

price controls labor force prices

shared by Zuzanna G on 17 Nov 13 - No Cached
  • Zuzanna G on 17 Nov 13
     
    This article discusses the relation between minimum wage laws and unemployment.
Haydn W

Scrap the licence fee and privatise the BBC - The Commentator - 0 views

www.thecommentator.com/...ence_fee_and_privatise_the_bbc

BBC Public Good The Commentator UK government

shared by Haydn W on 01 Dec 13 - No Cached
  • The next two years will see a lively debate over the future of the British Broadcasting Corporation, with the current Royal Charter due to run out at the end of 2016.
  • According to an ICM poll in the Sunday Telegraph last month, 70 per cent of voters believe that the licence fee should be abolished or cut.
  • With the licence fee scrapped, should the BBC remain in public ownership? Or should the BBC be privatised, so that it can compete on a level playing field with the global media giants that are now emerging? 
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Paul Samuelson, the Nobel-prize-winning American economist, advanced the concept of "public goods" in his classic 1954 paper "The Pure Theory of Public Expenditure", demonstrating that such goods had to be financed by taxation and could not be left to the free market. The hostility to advertising meant that broadcasting was the textbook paradigm of a "public good".
  • Still benefiting from the halo conferred by its wartime role, the BBC was by far the most influential broadcasting service in the world. Further, with the UK accounting for almost 10 per cent of world output in the late 1940s, its state-owned monopoly was a vast broadcasting business by international standards. The BBC may not have been part of the British constitution, but it was undoubtedly a "national champion".
  • Advertising is sometimes demonised by left-wing commentators as capitalism without taste or shame, and as free enterprise at its selfish worst.
  • The actual position is far more even-handed and complex. As the growing unpopularity of the licence fee has constrained the BBC's revenues, TV advertising spend is now about the same size as the total money collected by the licence fee and well above the portion of this money devoted to television.
  • But the truly spectacular development of the last few years is that both total advertising spend and the licence fee money have been surpassed by BSkyB's subscription revenue. As BSkyB also picks up advertising revenue on its channels, its annual income is well above the BBC's.
  • Haydn W on 01 Dec 13
     
    This article talks about the logistics of scraping the license fee that finances one of the worlds most famous examples of a public good, the BBC. Economic stagnation and falling wages have left many consumers disgruntled at the license fee and with the BBC failing to keep up with it's competitors in terms of revenue, costs have had to be cut at the world renowned corporation. The article explores the concept of the public good and how politicians have began to propose alternatives to the license fee.
Marenne M

Youth unemployment: Generation Jobless at risk of becoming reality - 3 views

www.smh.com.au/...ng-reality-20140414-zquf3.html

unemployment

shared by Marenne M on 14 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • Marenne M on 14 Apr 14
     
    This article describes the unemployment among youths in Australia. It describes how no matter whether you have a degree or not, it is barely possible to find a job. This is due to a lack in demand for labor, which generally results from a lack of aggregate demand, meaning that the economy isn't operating at its full potential. Therefore there is a surplus of supply for a minimal demand of labor, leading to a decrease in wage cost and a decrease in chances of finding a job. This is why many people are recommending doing internships for free, because firms are no longer paying as much for the employees, but even these internships are hard to get.
Jakub B

Why Are Lawyers So Expensive Even With The Excess Supply Of Lawyers? - 2 views

www.forbes.com/...h-the-excess-supply-of-lawyers

equilibrium "price mechanism" supply

shared by Jakub B on 09 Oct 13 - No Cached
  • Jakub B on 09 Oct 13
     
    The article's main topic is describing the reasons of not adapting supply of lawyers. Although the demand for their services is decreasing, their wages are still as during typical prosperity. The author states that the unwilling law milieu, It is an example of a supply curve which do not change in order to get equilibrium price. The reference to the game theory indicated in Johnson's essay which considers such stalemate as 'lose-lose situation'.
Haydn W

South Africa at 20: Storms behind the rainbow - Opinion - Al Jazeera English - 1 views

www.aljazeera.com/...-behi-2014320155339545752.html

Aggregate Supply South Africa GDP Mandela

shared by Haydn W on 30 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • April 27 marks the 20th anniversary of South Africa's first democratic elections.
  • Many things have improved in South Africa since 1994, to be sure. State racism has ended, and the country now boasts what some have described as the most progressive constitution in the world. People have rights, and they know that there are institutions designed to protect and uphold those rights. Still, everyday life for most South Africans remains a struggle - a struggle that is infinitely compounded by the sense of disappointment that accompanies it, given the gap between the expectations of liberation and the state of abjection that the majority continues to inhabit.
  • South Africa's unemployment rate in 1994 was 13 percent - so bad that most were convinced it could only get better. Yet today it is double that, at about 25 percent.
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • And that's according to official statistics; a more reasonable figure, according to most analysts, is probably closer to 37 percent. The situation is particularly bad for young people. The Economist recently reported that "half of South Africans under 24 looking for work have none. Of those who have jobs, a third earn less than $2 a day."
  • South Africa also boasts a reputation for being one of the most unequal countries in the world. Not only has aggregate income inequality worsened since the end of apartheid, income inequality between racial groups has worsened as well.
  • According to the 2011 census, black households earn only 16 percent of that which white households earn. About 62 percent of all black people live below the poverty line, while in the rural areas of the former homelands this figure rises to a shocking 79 percent.
  • The ANC's Black Economic Empowerment programme has succeeded in minting new black millionaires (South Africa has 7,800 of them now), but can't seem to manage the much more basic goal of eliminating poverty.
  • during the negotiated transition of the 1980s and early 1990s. The apartheid National Party was determined that the transition would not undermine key corporate interests in South Africa, specifically finance and mining. They were willing to bargain away political power so long as they could retain control over the economy. And so they did.
  • The ANC was forced to retreat from its position on nationalisation and an IMF deal signed just before the transition deregulated the financial sector and clamped down on wage increases.
  • Still, when the ANC assumed power in 1994 it implemented a progressive policy initiative known as the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). The RDP was designed to promote equitable development and poverty reduction
  • Despite its successes, this policy framework was abandoned a mere two years later. Mbeki and then Finance Minister Trevor Manuel held clandestine discussions with World Bank advisors toward drafting a new economic policy known as GEAR (Growth, Employment, and Redistribution, even though it accomplished precious little of the latter).
  • Given these contradictions, it's no wonder that South Africa is ablaze with discontent, earning it the title of "protest capital of the world".
  • Early this year some 3,000 protests occurred over a 90-day period, involving more than a million people. South Africans are taking to the streets, as they give up on electoral politics. This is particularly true for the young: Nearly 75 percent of voters aged 20-29 did not participate in the 2011 local elections.
  • The government's response has been a mix of police repression - including the recent massacre of 44 striking miners at Marikana - and the continued rollout of welfare grants, which now provide a vital lifeline to some 15 million people.
  • So far the protests have been focused on issues like access to housing, water, electricity, and other basic services, but it won't be long before they coalesce into something much more powerful
  • as they did during the last decade of apartheid. There are already signs that this is beginning to happen. The Economic Freedom Fighters, recently founded by Julius Malema, the unsavory former leader of the ANC Youth League, is successfully mobilising discontented youth and making a strong push to nationalise the mines and the banks.
  • It seems that the ANC's legitimacy is beginning to unravel and consent among the governed has begun to thin. It is still too early to tell, but the death of Mandela may further widen this crack in the edifice of the ruling regime, as the ANC scrambles to shore up its symbolic connection to the liberation struggle.
  • In short, the situation in South Africa over the past 20 years opens up interesting questions about the meaning of democracy. What is democracy if it doesn't allow people to determine their own economic destiny or benefit from the vast wealth of the commons? What is freedom if it serves only the capital interests of the country's elite? The revolution that brought us the end of apartheid has accomplished a great deal, to be sure, but it has not yet reached its goal. Liberation is not yet at hand.
  • Haydn W on 30 Mar 14
     
    From Al Jazeera I chose this article about the poor state of the economy in South Africa, 20 years after Nelson Mandela and the ANC came to power, ending the system of political, social and economic segregation, Apartheid. Despite reforms in the 90's the majority of wealth and power is still held by rich whites. With around 30% unemployment rate and young people struggling to find work many feel only anger and resentment to the current ANC government led by Jacob Zuma. Economically speaking South Africa's imports are up and exports down, reducing GDP as AS is shifted left. This is especially evident in industries like mining and banking which many are now calling for to be nationalised. 20 years on from Nelson Mandela's historic victory in the 1994 general election, South Africa, despite being free of the shackles of segregation is not in the boom many predict. The ANC must be careful in there actions, should they, following the death of Madiba lose contact with his legacy and what he stood for.
Haydn W

Greece's leader warns Merkel of 'impossible' debt payments - FT.com - 0 views

www.ft.com/...b5-11e4-982a-00144feab7de.html

Foreign Debt Greece EU

shared by Haydn W on 24 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • Greece’s leader warns Merkel of ‘impossible’ debt payments
  • Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, has warned Angela Merkel that it will be “impossible” for Athens to service debt obligations
  • The warning, contained in a letter sent by Mr Tsipras to the German chancellor and obtained by the Financial Times, comes as concerns mount that Athens will struggle to make pension and wage payments at the end of this month and could run out of cash before the end of April.
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • just before Ms Merkel agreed to meet Mr Tsipras on the sidelines of an EU summit last Thursday and invited him for a one-on-one session in Berlin
  • Mr Tsipras warns that his government will be forced to choose between paying off loans, owed primarily to the International Monetary Fund, or continue social spending.
  • He blames European Central Bank limits
  • “Given that Greece has no access to money markets, and also in view of the ‘spikes’ in our debt repayment obligations during the spring and summer . . . it ought to be clear that the ECB’s special restrictions when combined with disbursement delays would make it impossible for any government to service its debt,” Mr Tsipras wrote.
  • He said servicing the debts would lead to a “sharp deterioration in the already depressed Greek social economy
  • Mr Tsipras was rebuffed in efforts to secure quick financing from either the ECB or eurozone lenders at Thursday’s Brussels meeting
  • In an interview, Luis de Guindos, Spanish finance minister, said his eurozone counterparts would not sign off on any new bailout funding until a full set of approved reforms was passed
  • Mr Tsipras’s five-page letter is particularly critical of the ECB
  • The Greek prime minister insisted the ECB should have returned to “the terms of finance of the Greek banks”
  • Far from going easier on Athens, the ECB is considering whether to give its guidance to Greek banks more authority by making it a legally binding requirement not to add to their T-bill holdings.
  • He also criticised the ECB for only increasing the amount of emergency central bank loans to Greek lenders “at shorter intervals than normal and at rather small increments”
  • Mr Tsipras wrote that Athens was “committed to fulfilling its obligations in good faith and close co-operation with its partners”, he also warned Ms Merkel that a failure to find short-term funding could lead to much bigger problems.
1 - 13 of 13
Showing 20▼ items per page