Recovery in the services sector is not all good news
It has been revealed over the last few days that activity and business levels in the UK services sector have picked up sharply. While many are viewing this as a definitive sign that the UK recession is nearing an end there are some worrying signs accompanying this report.
While there is no doubt that business levels have been rising over the last few weeks and months, it would appear that more and more service sector companies are looking to reduce their workforce and squeeze as much economy out of their remaining employees as possible. We could end up with a very difficult situation where the services sector itself is recovering while employee numbers are falling.
While there is no doubt that overall unemployment in the UK is set to rise for some time, with many predicting in excess of 3 million by the end of 2010, there had been hopes that at least a recovery in the services sector would safeguard large numbers of jobs. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be the case with more and more companies looking to squeeze as much economy out of their employees as possible and trim the "fat" from their operations.
Share this..
Related stories
Last ditch bid to avert postal strike
Unions and Royal Mail management are today in talks regarding planned strikes which will literally cripple the UK postal system. These last-ditch talks have been scheduled as we approached the first official strike date after which point many people believe it would be difficult for both parties to get around the negotiating table. Is there hope for the immediate future?
The very fa...
UK government help for credit card holders could backfire
This week will see the UK government publish a report on the UK credit cards and store card system and various practices used by the industry to increase profitability. One of the major elements under review will be the "minimum monthly payments" demanded by credit card companies which have fallen from around 5% to between 2% and 3% over the last few years. The UK government believes the minimum p...
Read MorePeter Mandelson looking to protect Vauxhall jobs
Lord Mandelson is today in Germany to meet executives of Magna, the company which took over a number of General Motors European operations. He is specifically looking for a number of guarantees regarding Vauxhall and the thousands of jobs connected to the operation in the UK. However, while initial signs were good, in that the company had verbally agreed to guarantee jobs in the short term, there...
Read MoreWhy is the UK economy still struggling?
Today we saw Denmark leave recession in the third quarter, something which has again highlighted the dire plight of the UK economy. When you also consider that the revised figure for the third quarter of 2009 in the UK was a reduction of 0.2% in the economy this does not reflect well against a 0.6% rise in the US. So why is the UK struggling so badly? In order to appreciate why the UK economy i...
Read MoreOpening hours this Christmas at Financialadvice.co.uk
15/12/2014 Over the next couple of weeks our opening hours are set to change. If for any reason you still need to get in touch with us over the Christmas break, you can still ask us a question online, call us and leave a message or send us an email; one of our fully qualified financial advisers will get in touch when our offices re-open. Our Christmas opening hours are as follows: 1st- 2...
Read More