Economic so far

Economic:

* Stage of business cycle.
* Current and projected economic growth, inflation and interest rates.
* Unemployment and labor supply.
* Labor costs.
* Levels of disposable income and income distribution.



http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=192

GPD (Gross Domestic Product ) by 0.8% in the Q3 of 2010




http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=19

Inflation

Government inflation set at 3.3


# clothing and footwear where prices, overall, rose by 2.0 per cent on the month (a record for an October to November period) compared with a rise of 0.6 per cent a year ago. The main upward pressure came from garments, particularly men’s outerwear

As an internationally comparable measure of inflation, the CPI shows that the UK inflation rate in October was above the provisional figure for the European Union. The UK rate was
3.2 per cent whereas the EU’s as a whole was 2.3 per cent.





Unemployment rate
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=12

The employment rate for those aged from 16 to 64 for the three months to September 2010 was 70.8 per cent, up 0.3 on the quarter.
The total number of unemployed people fell by 9,000 over the quarter to reach 2.45 million, although the number of people unemployed for up to six months increased by 21,000 on the quarter to reach 1.18 million.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (the claimant count) fell by 3,700 between September and October 2010 to reach 1.47 million, although the number of people claiming for up to six months increased by 10,400 to reach 943,900

The inactivity rate for those aged from 16 to 64 for the three months to September 2010 was 23.2 per cent, down 0.2 on the quarter. The number of inactive people aged from 16 to 64 fell by 83,000 over the quarter to reach 9.27 million

The number of vacancies for the three months to October 2010 was 453,000, down 27,000 over the quarter. The sector showing the largest quarterly fall was education where the number of vacancies fell by 10,000 to reach 31,000.

The earnings annual growth rate for total pay (including bonuses) was 2.0 per cent for the three months to September 2010, up from 1.7 per cent for the three months to August. The earnings annual growth rate for regular pay (excluding bonuses) was 2.2 per cent for the three months to September 2010, up from 2.0 per cent for the three months to August.



Minimum wage

* £5.93 - the main rate for workers aged 21 and over
* £4.92 - the 18-20 rate
* £3.64 - the 16-17 rate for workers above school leaving age but under 18
* £2.50 - the apprentice rate, for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship


Levels of disposable income

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=334

riginal income, before taxes and benefits, of the top fifth of households in the UK was approximately 15 times greater than that for the bottom fifth (£73,800 per household per year compared with £5,000). After redistribution through taxes and benefits, the ratio between the top and bottom fifths is reduced to four-to-one (average final income of £53,900 compared to £13,600).


Households with lower incomes tend to receive more benefits in kind from the state (£6,300 for the bottom fifth compared with £3,900 for the top fifth). Retired households are the biggest users of health services provided by the state, while households with children are the biggest users of education services. These two groups are more likely to be in the lower income groups.

the top fifth of households paid 24 per cent of their gross income in direct tax while the bottom fifth paid 11 per cent.