Assess the likely impact of UK Government labour market policies on any three macro-economic objectives. Refer to the information and to your own knowledge (30)
Labour market policies are government programmes that intervene in the labour market to help the unemployed find work. The three macro-economic policies I am going to look at are: full employment, steady sustainable economic growth and low inflation.
Full employment is the point in an economy, where everyone who is willing and able to work is in a job. A labour market policy the government could implement to help reach full employment could be the rise in the compulsory age for people in training or education. The effect of this will be that people will have better skills when
…show more content…
This would shift labour rightward as more people would be entering the labour force, creating jobs for the economy. More jobs in the economy not only mean that firms have a stronger work force but these new workers are spending in the economy, increasing consumption. The diagram shows the effect this would have on the economy. The supply of workers moves from S1 to S2. However with the increase in the quantity of workers, also means a higher rate of inflation in the economy. A problem however is it would be wrong to assume that the immigrants moving into the country would all get into work immediately, it may be the case that the immigrants come in and are happy with the benefits they are receiving from not working. This would mean that the only thing that has changed is that the government have a larger benefits bill to pay. This leaves them with a smaller amount of money to spend on reinvestment. Another thing to consider would be the effect on the quality of production.
The third objective of the UK government is low inflation. Inflation is defined as the general rise in the prices of everyday goods. A labour market policy the government could use to reduce inflation in the long term would be to weaken trade union powers. Trade unions are organisations of workers that seek through collective bargaining with employers to protect and improve the real incomes of their members. The effect of reducing their powers is that it puts the power back into the hands
The government used monetary policy over demand management, and concentrated on the control of the rate of interest in an attempt to stop low levels of unemployment causing inflation. The government decided to use collective bargaining as a means of setting rates of pay for the first time, the government no longer required Trade Unionists as negotiators of pay, because private negotiating bodies were now used. It was now assumed that in the present economic climate, in accordance with interest rates and government objectives that the price which was set would be reasonable, and if not then the government assumed that the employers knew better, this being one indication of Mrs Thatchers non-tolerance towards Trade Unions, also shown by Mrs Thatcher passing control of pay structures to private bodies and employers. This attitude is very different to the present day ‘New’ Labour government, who sees government interaction in the wage structure as being very important. For example, the introduction of the National Minimum Wage.
Using the data and your economic knowledge, assess the likely impact of substantial cuts in public expenditure on the performance of the UK economy.
In the article by Griswold it looks at the economic analysis and numerous empirical studies that immigrants could help the economy and they could boost the productive capacity of the United States through their labor, the capital they would bring to the country, and their new business ideas. The author talks about how immigrants would not compete with the native born people and that they would fill in the jobs that no one wants to do. This will provide more affordable goods and services to consumers and this will create more employment opportunities for the native-born citizens. The author also talks about higher skilled immigrants and that this will allow American companies to create new products. Immigrant workers make capital more productive, they would increase investment, and they could lower the government tax receipts.
This means that immigrants are more likely to take the blue-collar jobs that complement the work of United States workers to help increase the productivity. This means that immigrants are heavily employed in manual labor jobs. For example, low-skilled immigrant workers allow United States farmers to expand their agricultural productivity which leads to more employment opportunities and incomes for both sides. Immigration helps American businesses in another way as well. Immigrants help United States workers by opening up new stores and restaurants which allows more employment opportunities. Because of these two factors, the Hamilton Project states that economists have found that immigration raises the average wages of all U.S.-born workers (The Hamilton Project, 2012). Although it is viewed by some people that immigrants are taking U.S.-born natives they actually help expand the supply of labor. This increased supply of labor allows immigrants to have a domestic economic demand for houses, food, and goods and services. This demand helps create more jobs for building houses, making food, and allowing more goods and services to be created. Although there are mainly long-term benefits some economists believe that there are short-term losses with immigration. According to the article titled, The Effects of Immigration on the United States’ Economy, the standard economic theory states
On the other hand, experts believe preventing immigrants from entering the country would increase unemployment rates as immigrants tend to do jobs that Americans would not and for lower wages. This leads to the economic impacts of immigration that briefly include lower wages, lower production costs and lower prices for the consumers.
A survey conducted by the “National Academies of Sciences”, showed that immigrants have no impact on job loss, economy, and wages. While, they might receive lower wages for job positions, there isn’t any negative impact on job opportunities. The survey found that immigration workers would improve the economic balance. While, they continue to receive lower wages in job positions, higher skilled workers can receive much higher salaries for similar positions.
Immigration can have a positive effect on the workforce. Foreign-born workers are an important source of labor force growth, which in turn leads to an increase in the economy. Since the mid-1990s, immigrants account for nearly half of the U.S. labor-force growth. This can lead to greater specialization. As the workforce grows, people are more likely to work in jobs they are more suited for. Immigrants tend to have a
The economy is a very delicate machine, it takes multiple factors to work properly, however some work better than others. Economic policy is government interaction with the economy based upon enacting policies that regulate interest rates, taxes and government budgeting. With this, government's hope to control and regulate the economy and make it work to the best of their country. To prove that it is successful, the strength of the economy would need to be put into question. If the economy is increasing with a particular policy, then the outcome is positive, Supply-side economics is the most effective as it made America have the longest economic growth in the history of the United State compared to demand-side and fiscal economic policies.
The structural and labor policies which can increase the labor markets' efficiency and flexibility. Central banks cannot create the jobs, make sustainable growth and increase the GDP, so government should apply other policies to solve the problem.
With so many complications and intricacies, the true impact it has on our economy is unknown. There are obvious benefits, along with outstanding burdens that must be taken into consideration while creating a future immigration policy. If all immigrants are taken out, then the secondary labor market full of undesirable jobs will have to be filled somehow, meaning that less people will occupy the primary labor force. On the other hand, if America elected to adopt open borders, the massive increase in migrants would spike up unemployment and drive down the average person's wage. As more data comes out about this unaccounted population arises, the answer may be more clear cut, but for now a best solution cannot be
Analyse what you perceive to be the key demographic features of British society and its implications to businesses
As the government attempts to limit their influence within the labour market, an additional strain is instead passed on to the employers. They are responsible pay staff on the current minimum wage an additional 50p an hour. These can have a number of serious knock on effects for the firms and the economy as a whole. This rise in wages will lead to higher operating costs for firms in various industries within the country. As
The occurrence of Brexit in the UK economy is already having an effect on the Job market. This is mainly due to uncertainty caused by the UK’s volatile political situation and no full direction by the Brexit campaigners on how the UK’s economy can move forward. The UK job market had not fully recovered from the effects of the recession and added with this uncertainty from leaving the EU, employers aren’t willing to employ workers on a permanent basis as they do not know the long term cost. Therefore, the unemployment rate in the UK is rising but not as drastic in comparison to the financial crisis of 2009. In this essay, I am going to analyse the current labour market in the UK looking at indicators such as; wages, regions, gender and so on with the focus on the Banking and Finance Sector. I will also comment on the specific job role of an Actuarial consultant as this work role involves providing well-informed advice and understanding of mathematics and statistics to make long-term financial forecasts which ironically would be very useful for the UK’s current economic climate. Actuaries help in the decision making processes of private firms and governments as they give clear indicators on what and how financial decisions should be made from the calculations they make and then explain the information calculated in a way that is easily understood. A knowledge of the current situation of this job sector is of high importance as firstly, it’s a field of work that I am
Economists employed by the government are involved in implementing policies, which were especially established to meet government 's objectives that are very often multidimensional. There are four very fundamental objectives for viable economy, including decreasing the unemployment rates in certain regions, lower or stabilise the inflation , constant economic growth and a satisfactory balance of payments position. The UK economy continues to suffer from a number of underlying structural weaknesses. The government is now set on providing the economic framework, which will enhance the opportunity to raise a sustainable rate of economy growth, (Anderton, 2006).
Through the main economic schools of thought I will explain why reaching full employment may not be possible. I will be going into detail on the classical view of full employment, and the Keynesian view of full employment to help you understand better how each school viewed full employment, and how to achieve it. The classical view gives you a look into the supply side of the economy using Say’s law and the Say’s law flow diagram. Most economists followed the classical view up until the 1930’s. Then John Maynard Keynes influenced the world with the Keynesian Revolution. Keynes believed that demand is what should be the focus instead of supply. He also believed that the economy tends towards equilibrium and not full employment. Both of these schools of thought bring interesting arguments against full employment and how they can achieve it. I feel I must begin with the classical view of employment and income.