Posts tagged UK Economy

Budget 2012 at a glance: George Osborne's key points

Helpful summary from the BBC.

The Economist: Another recession is on its way, but the government’s policies are broadly right

The Economist:

Mr Osborne has not got things completely right. But this government’s instincts have been saner than its big-spending predecessor’s. Mr Osborne was correct in his determination to tackle the deficit quickly. The notion that he has caused the coming recession is nonsense. More flexibility is now needed. But, sadly, all the options for Britain are pretty dark.

The whole piece is a helpful overview of the state of our economy and looks at what George Osborne is getting right (and wrong) with his response.

Unemployment is down 88,000 for the last three months

Office for National Statistics:

The unemployment rate for the three months to April 2011 was 7.7 per cent of the economically active population, down 0.3 on the quarter. The total number of unemployed people fell by 88,000 over the quarter to reach 2.43 million. This is the largest quarterly fall in unemployment since the three months to August 2000.

At least this is something heading in the right direction.

UPDATE:

I should add that employment also increased by 80,000.