UK Report Record Unemployment Figures

The UK has reported highly encouraging employment figures, as the full employment rate was 73.7%, the highest total since records began in 1971.

The unemployment rate has now fallen to 5.3% from July to September, a reduction of 0.3% from June to April.

Compared to the figures for the second quarter, 177,000 more people are now in work. Year on year figures revealed a starker contrast, with an increase of 419,000 now on payrolls.

Official figures also revealed that there are 22.8 million in the UK now working full time, 273,000 more than for a year earlier. There are now also  8.42 million people working part-time,  an146,000 increase than a year ago.

Pay for employees in the UK  improved by 3.0% including bonuses and by 2.5% excluding bonuses, although this rate was slower than projected by the Bank of England.

Pound Responds to News

The impressive employment figures hiked the pound over the 1.516 mark. This was after  the pound had  slipped down to 1.514, from 1.517 this morning.

This leaves the pound in a far better position compared to November 6, and the release of the US employment figures, which showed an increase of 271,000 jobs.

Figures that may prompt an interest rate rise when the Federal Reserve meet next month.

Compared to the euro, the pound has jumped up  in the aftermath of the release of the employment figures, approaching  1.412 from 1.408 earlier today.

Germany Has Lower Business Insolvencies Year on Year

German local courts have disclosed that were 1,087 business insolvencies for August this year, a decline on 9.7% compared to the month on month figures for 2014.

This latest statistics reverse the trend of the previous figures for  June and July, where insolvencies increased by 11.2% and 3.6% respectively.

Since November 2012, insolvencies have declined year on year, with the exception of three months over the past three years.

EU Should Align Spending with Political Priorities say MEP’s

EU funds should be allocated only after careful consideration of political objectives, MEP’s argued in a debate on the latest  European Court of Auditors (ECA) report.

A new approach should be adopted in order for the EU to react better to future economic crises, MEP’s told the budgetary control committee, as a new performance related budget was called for.

The ECA stated in its final report that the collection of revenue for 2014 was free of error, while the estimated error rate of expenditure was 4.4%.

This was slightly below the mark for 2013, but still way over the 2% threshold that is considered the acceptable level.

ECA president, Vitor Caldeira also revealed that the level of error was the same for funds under shared management with member states.

The fund accounts for 80% of the total EU budget, expenditure that is managed solely by the Commission.

Caldeira also highlighted that national authorities had the opportunities to detect the errors made.

Kristalina Georgieva, Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources, said that the Commission was now committed to overseeing a more effective correlation, between money and achievements.

But admitted that it would take time for any new strategy, to produce the results that are desired.