Monthly Archives: May 2014

Investment banking is dead, say the pundits, and British investment banking has fallen further and faster than most. Well, OK, not quite all the pundits but Stefan Lewellen seems to be in a minority on this one. Frances explains why: … Continue reading →

There have been a few shareholder revolts over pay recently but we don’t often hear of investors kicking up about diversity. After all, it’s one of those politically correct HR-ish initiatives that no-one really cares about….isn’t it? Not according to some … Continue reading →

Thanks to Thomas Piketty, lots of people are talking about population growth, or rather, the lack of it. He cites it as one of the reasons for the growth in inequality. Most obviously, low population growth means fewer children keeping a … Continue reading →

John Rentoul wrote a piece yesterday saying that inequality hasn’t increased in recent years. He does that every so often. Using a chart from yesterday’s ONS report on Wealth in Great Britain, he showed that the Gini coefficient for total wealth has … Continue reading →

Another month, another set of employment statistics, with headlines about employment reaching its highest level since records began. Once again, the self-employed are largely responsible for the surge over the last quarter. It’s clear from this ONS chart where the … Continue reading →

We know there has been a collapse in self-employment earnings. The Resolution Foundation’s findings last week reinforced what the data from a variety of sources have been telling us for some time. The pay of the self-employed has fallen further and faster than … Continue reading →

Last week, David Cameron’s brother, working without pay, caused the collapse of a fraud trial on the grounds that, because of legal aid cuts, the defendants could not get proper representation. It is a challenge to government policy mounted by a senior … Continue reading →

Data from the Labour Force Survey indicates that migrants account for a significant proportion of the recent increase in self-employment, especially in London. (See yesterday’s post.) Source: Michael O’ Connor from LFS data. Why might this be? There’s a clue … Continue reading →

Interesting morning at the Resolution Foundation on Tuesday for the release of its report on self-employment: Just the Job or a Working Compromise? Its overall conclusion is that some of the rise in self-employment is due to the weak economy but … Continue reading →

Something a bit different, as it’s the Friday before a bank holiday. No graphs or charts, just what my friend Kevin Ball calls a bit of loose-limbed intuition. I rarely listen to You and Yours but I caught a bit of … Continue reading →