Man Up France FFS

Enquiring minds might find this table from SocGen of passing interest,

The standout lines are that the French and Belgiums earn more per hour than do German workers, which is a straight turnaround from 2000 when the Germans made more per hour. 

That of course suggests that the Germans suffered relatively poor wage gains but stayed competitive with low unemployment and strong exports.

Everyone else saw wages go up, and competitiveness reduce and now they're looking for German handouts.

 Except the UK where earnings per hour have fallen dramatically since 2008 which is demonstrative of the British taking their medicine.

Onlookers should remember, many things have gone very wrong in the UK but to our credit we started to face up to problems immediately after the crisis. There is a ton of unfinished work in the UK but at the time, the French swept most of their bad news under the carpet and hoisted a sign that said, "no problems here (especially in their banks), nothing to see, move along now." 

Guess what.... your problem, grow up, stop whinging and deal with it.

Things Are Never So Bad...........

 “Things are never so bad they can’t be made worse” Humphrey Bogart

UK employment statistics for August to October 2011 were released this morning and they make pretty glum reading. 

- The employment rate for those aged from 16 to 64 was 70.3 per cent, down 0.2 on the quarter

- There were 29.11 million people in employment aged 16 and over, down 63,000 on the quarter. The number of people employed in the public sector fell by 67,000 on the quarter to reach 5.99million. The number of people employed in the private sector rose by 5,000 on the quarter to reach 23.12 million.

- The unemployment rate was 8.3 per cent of the economically active population, up 0.4 on the quarter. There were 2.64 million unemployed people, up 128,000 on the quarter. The unemployment rate is the highest since 1996 and the number of unemployed people is the highest since 1994.

- The inactivity rate for those aged from 16 to 64 was 23.2 per cent, down 0.1 on the quarter. There were 9.33 million economically inactive people aged from 16 to 64, down 54,000 on the quarter.

- Total pay (including bonuses) rose by 2.0 per cent on a year earlier, down 0.3 on the three months to September 2011(with both the private and public sectors showing lower pay growth).

- Regular pay (excluding bonuses) rose by 1.8 per cent on a year earlier, up 0.1 on the three months to September 2011.

This though, is the stand out chart in the ONS release

- The number of UK born people in employment was 25.08 million in the three months to September 2011, down 311,000 on a year earlier. The number of non-UK born people in employment was 4.0 million, up 181,000 from a year earlier.

Clegg The Ungrateful

Nick Clegg's Political Career Takes An Unexpected Turn

After a weekend of bluster Nick Clegg has failed to appear in the House of Commons this afternoon for the Prime Ministers statement on on the EU treaty. Aides say he didn't want to be a distraction. Poor lamb.

Like it or not Clegg is part of the government and should be there; the deputy prime minister can't cherry pick only the fluffy warm user-friendly announcements that he wants to be associated with. In fact, Clegg has done himself enormous damage this weekend. Flip flopping between different views doesn't sit well with voters who, like and agree with them or not, prefer men of conviction and loyalty. Clegg meanwhile is displaying all the characteristics of a political and moral coward and in effect is ensuring his own political end.

What he may have failed to appreciate is that if Cameron had gone along with the treaty, the subsequent referendum would have kicked the EU firmly into touch in the UK and the subsequent and inevitable general election would have signed off himself and the rest of his lie-down-and-cry party into deep oblivion for a generation. Cameron's act of defiance therefore was in fact in the Liberal's best political interests.

It is anyway a common talking point amongst Liberals that Clegg will get the heave at the next general election from the good people of Sheffield. He may find that the EU commissioner job he was pencilled in for is off the scorecard now and so should it be. 

The best thing that Clegg can do is to man up and stand firm for the government and for Britain. If it alienates his party members then so be it. His only alternative is immediate resignation. Any compromise between the two will leave his reputation and future in tatters and regardless of what some of his more naive colleagues and flapping BBC journo's may think, the same will be true of his party's electoral prospects.