Macroeconomics: UK economy, IB Economics

Larry Elliott argues that the proposed Labour Party changes to labour market law, in providing greater worker protection, are going to be a good thing for the UK, and workers in particular. 

He suggests that people argued the same thing about the introduction of the National Minimum Wage, now rebranded as the National Living Wage. They argue that despite the growth in the number of people of zero hours contracts, there's been no negligible effect on productivity. 

A welcome boost in real pay for workers as those employers signed up to the Real Living Wage are increasing the hourly rate by £0.20. This voluntary scheme pays more per hour that the statutory National Living Wage

The Chancellor has addressed the Conservative Party Conference and announced yet more promises - but this time the National Living Wage is going to rise, which is an easy promise to make if you aren't going to pay for it. 

However, a higher minimum wage - now called the National Living Wage - at £10.50 per hour - is clearly a good thing for the low paid, provided that it doesn't price them out of the labour market.

Despite falling shop price inflation, a number of retailers are of the view that recent policy changes, increasing taxes and Brexit red tape are ensuring that inflation stays high at 4.3%.

Factor in the biggest rise in the national living wage on record, and you can see that there's some evidence to support this claim. However, it must also be pointed out that retailers would say this; it's easier to blame the government for shop price inflation than to accept thinner profit margins. 

This is a must-read for any prospective PPE applicants, or potential politics students. Larry Elliott produces a succinct summary of recent shifts in the Conservative party's economic position, and reinforces the notion that what the Conservatives lack in the way of a coherent ideology, they more than make up for in their ability to craft election victories. 

It highlights the fact that the current thrust of economic policy is directed at appealing to Leave voting members of the working class - safe in the knowledge that the Tory shires will continue to vote for them in the absence of any alternative. 

It's a very astute assessment of the contemporary UK politics. 

It used to be the case that we automatically assumed that the biggest cause of poverty was worklessness. However, we need to change our perceptions, largely as a result of the ways in which labour markets have changed.

This Guardian article highlights the fact that more than one million workers in the public sector - among them care workers and cleaners - are trapped in in-work poverty, according to the Living Wage Foundation.

They define the living wage as £9 per hour, or £10.55 in London - a figure that is "higher than the government’s legally enforceable “national living wage” of £7.83 an hour across the country, which is to rise to £8.21 from April." It is argued that people who earn below that are working and yet still 'poor'.