Monthly Archives: August 2014

The announcement by former boxing promoter Frank Maloney that he is undergoing gender reassignment was met with less hostility and more support than I (and probably he) expected. Boxing is, after all, a very macho world and transgender is probably the last frontier … Continue reading →

The Chartered Management Institute and XpertHR published the results of a survey on the gender pay gap last week. It found that female managers earn less than their male counterparts, with the gap increasing with age. At 23 percent, the … Continue reading →

Lots of people have been poring over this week’s report on self-employment from the ONS.  I particularly liked this chart from Nathaniel Lichfield, showing annual growth in GDP, employment and self-employment.   It shows clearly how, even though employment growth fluctuated with … Continue reading →

UK Commission for Education and Skills (UKCES) recently published a wide-ranging report on the state of the UK labour market. It noted that, while the UK has been good at keeping people in work, it has not grown as fast … Continue reading →

Anyone with an interest in government finances and public spending must, by now, have developed a morbid fascination with Italy. The country slid into recession again this month, wiping out not only its post-recession growth but much of its growth since it … Continue reading →

Good news on the economy last week as the ONS upped its estimate of annual GDP growth slightly, by 0.1 percent. The employment figures, also released last week, showed an improvement on the previous quarter but a slight fall from the previous month. … Continue reading →

Credit ratings agency Moody’s published a report on ageing last week. Using the recently updated UN population projections, it mapped the population change in each country. It concluded that the unprecedented pace of ageing will slow down economic growth over the next … Continue reading →

Chris Dillow posted about some research on peer group behaviour among firms. Companies, it seems, are prone to herd like behaviour: We find that a firm’s tendency to engage in financial misconduct increases with the misconduct rates of neighboring firms. This … Continue reading →

Apparently, there was a report out on the rise of in-work housing benefit earlier this week. The Labour Party, which commissioned the research by the House of Commons Library, has not published the figures, which is a shame, because all sorts … Continue reading →

Bloomberg reports that investment in Israeli technology firms has surged since the start of the conflict in Gaza. Since the conflict escalated six weeks ago after the abduction of three Israeli teenagers, investors have kicked $598 million into the country’s tech … Continue reading →