Thought for the day: trickle-up in the UK
from Merijn Knibbe
New data on the British labor market have been published. And guess what: Cameron is succeeding, austerity does what it was designed to do.
1. The rich get richer
2. Unemployment among the young and middle aged is increasing
3. More old people (65 and over) who have a pension and therefore can be paid low wages have jobs. While total employment is down, employment of those of 65 and over is up!
But let’s quote the Office for National Statistics on this:
On 1 (keep in mind that British inflation is 4% and rising, which means that total purchasing power of non bonus wages is declining at a rate of 3% a year or even more): “The earnings annual growth rate for total pay (including bonuses) was 2.3 per cent for the three months to January 2011, up from 1.8 per cent for the three months to December 2010. This increase in the whole economy annual growth rate for total pay was mainly driven by bonus payments in the finance and business services sector.”
On 2 (remember that 16-to-24 unemployment is up despite increased enrollment rates in education): “The unemployment rate for the three months to January 2011 was 8.0 per cent, up 0.1 on the quarter. The total number of unemployed people increased by 27,000 over the quarter to reach 2.53 million, the highest figure since 1994. The unemployment rate for those aged from 16 to 24 increased by 0.8 on the quarter to reach 20.6 per cent, the highest figure since comparable records began in 1992. The number of unemployed 16 to 24 year olds increased by 30,000 on the quarter to reach 974,000, the highest figure since comparable records began in 1992.”
On 3 (remember that this trend antedates 2008): “The number of people in employment aged 65 and over increased by 56,000 on the quarter to reach 900,000, the highest figure since comparable records began in 1992”.
It’s good Better to be rich, in England. And didn’t I read somewhere about the Cameron government that “23 of the 29 member of the new cabinet are worth more than £1m… and the Lib Dems are just as wealthy as the Tories”?
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Real-World Economics Review Blog 
We all know what this Coalition government is doing but the question is what are we going to do about it? They are corrupt, they have never had ordinary jobs in their lives and they are simply playing games with our lives – some idiots voted for this lot, even if it wasn’t a majority! Trouble is modern politics has become a game played by the upper middle classes – look at Blair! Look at the way Blair handles his own tax affairs if you don’t already think these people see themselves as a race apart from the rest of us.