BizResearch

An Anatomy of Economic Inequality in the UK

The independent National Equality Panel was set up to examine how inequalities in people’s economic outcomes – such as earnings, incomes and wealth – are related to their characteristics and circumstances – such as gender, age or ethnicity. The Panel’s report, An Anatomy of Economic Inequality in the UK, finds that:

Inequalities in earnings and incomes are high in Britain, both compared with other industrialised countries, and compared with thirty years ago. Over the most recent decade, earnings inequality has narrowed a little and income inequality has stabilised on some measures, but the large inequality growth of the 1980s has not been reversed.

Some of the widest gaps in outcomes between social groups have narrowed in the last decade, particularly between the earnings of women and men, and in the educational qualifications of different ethnic groups. However, deep-seated and systematic differences in economic outcomes remain between social groups across all of the dimensions examined. Despite the elimination and even reversal of the qualification differences that often explain them, significant differences remain in employment rates and relative pay between men and women and between ethnic groups.

Differences in outcomes between the more and less advantaged within each social group, however the population is classified, are much greater than differences between social groups. Even if all differences between groups were removed, overall inequalities would remain wide. The inequality growth of the last forty years is mostly attributable to growing gaps within groups rather than between them.

Many of the inequalities examined by the panel accumulate across the life cycle, especially those related to socio-economic background. Economic advantage and disadvantage reinforce themselves across the life cycle, and often on to the next generation. Policy interventions to counter this are needed at each life cycle stage. Achieving ‘equality of opportunity’ is very hard when there are such wide differences between the resources which people and their families have to help them fulfil their diverse potentials.

Click here to read the full report

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Restructuring in Recession

Over the course of 2008 and 2009, the world economy experienced one of the most serious recessions in modern times. In July 2009, 22 million men and women were unemployed throughout Europe, five million more than a year previously. Moreover, the situation may well still have further to play out: experience of previous recessions suggests that the full effect of the downturn upon employment has yet to materialise. Eurofound’s analysis of restructuring and job loss over the past year is collated and reviewed in this, the fourth annual report of the European Restructuring Monitor.

Eurofound’s European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) has been monitoring the extent of restructuring in Europe and its consequences in terms of job loss and job creation across the EU and in Norway since 2002. The importance of this task has been highlighted over the last year, as the global downturn has profoundly changed the face of the labour market in Europe: by July 2009, 22 million men and women were unemployed throughout Europe, five million more than a year previously. Over the course of the crisis, the ERM has tracked the resulting large-scale job losses across Europe and examined responses that seek to prevent or minimise job loss.

This report also looks at recent developments in restructuring across Europe from a number of perspectives, examining for instance the situation of such sectors as construction, car manufacturing and financial services. It looks at initiatives that companies have taken to safeguard jobs and the role played by the social partners in finding solutions. This company-level investigation is complemented by looking at European-level measures to protect employment – in particular, the role assigned by the European Globalisation adjustment Fund. Finally, this analysis is rounded out by looking at national level responses.

Click here to read the report

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Global Economic Prospects 2010: Crisis, Finance and Growth

This year’s Global Economic Prospects report from the World Bank examines the consequences of the financial crisis for both the short- and medium-term growth prospects of developing countries. The report warns that while the worst of the financial crisis may be over, global recovery is fragile. It predicts that the fallout from the crisis will change the landscape for finance and growth over the next 10 years. 

The overall strength of the recovery and its durability will depend on the extent to which household- and business-sector demand strengthens over the next few quarters. While the baseline scenario projects that global growth will firm to 2.7% in 2010 and 3.2% in 2011 after a 2.2% de¬cline in 2009, neither a double-dip scenario, where growth slows appreciably in 2011, or a strengthening recovery can be ruled out.  Global output is forecast to contract by 2.2% in 2009, but to register positive growth of 2.7 and 3.2% in 2010 and 2011 respectively. The main drag on global growth is coming from high-income countries, whose economies are expected to have contracted by 3.2% in 2009. Prospects for developing countries are for a relatively robust recovery in 2010, with growth of 5.1% in aggregate. Output should strengthen further in 2011 but only modestly rising to 5.1% for the developing aggregate as a whole and 4.2% for developing countries excluding China, India and Europe and Central Asia.

In terms of poverty reduction, experience from previous crises suggests that progress to eliminate poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) can be seriously disrupted by growth recessions such as the current one. Estimates suggest that the recession will cause some 5 million additional children to suffer severe malnutrition with potentially permanent impacts on cognition and long-term earnings capabilities, while malnutrition-related deaths may increase by between 30,000 and 50,000 excess deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa during 2009 alone.

In addition to analyzing the immediate challenges for developing countries posed by the crisis, this year’s report describes some of the longer-term implications of tighter financial conditions for developing-country finance and economic growth.

Click here for the full report

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100 Best Companies to Work For

Fortune magazine have just released their annual ranking of the 100 Best Companies to Work For.   An extensive employee survey was carried out throughout corporate America. Of some 1,500 firms that were contacted, 407 companies participated in this year's survey. Nearly 100,000 employees at those companies responded to a 57-question survey created by the Great Place to Work Institute, a global research and consulting firm. Most of the company's score (two-thirds) is based on the results of the survey, which is sent to a minimum of 400 randomly selected employees from each company. The survey asks questions related to their attitudes about the management's credibility, job satisfaction and camaraderie. The other third of the scoring is based on the company's responses to the Institute's Culture Audit, which includes detailed questions about demographic makeup, and pay and benefit programs, as well as a series of open-ended questions about the company's management philosophy, methods of internal communications, opportunities, compensation practices, and diversity efforts, etc.

This year’s ranking sees the number one slot taken by tech powerhouse SAS (up from number 20 last year). The company has an impressive list of benefits including: high-quality child care at $410 a month; 90% coverage of the health insurance premium; unlimited sick days; a medical centre (at no cost to employees); a free 66,000-square-foot fitness centre and natatorium; a lending library; and a summer camp for children.

The investment adviser Edward Jones retains the number 2 spot having successfully weathered the recession without closing one of its 12,615 offices or laying off a single employee (the British division was sold in October). Salaries were frozen, but profit sharing continued.

Wegmans Food Markets rated one of the best groceries in the nation, and a former No. 1 on the list (in 2005), move up to the number 3 slot. The company has never had a layoff in its 94-year history. More than 4,000 employees, 11% of the workforce, have been here more than 15 years.

Click here to see the full ranking

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The 2009 Corporate Contributions Report

This report is based on The Conference Board 2009 Corporate Contributions Survey, which gathers and analyzes data on charitable contributions made by US-based companies in 2008. The survey was conducted between May and July 2009; 166 companies responded. The respondent companies are among the largest corporate donors in the United States, with total U.S. and international contributions of $9.47 billion in 2008. Contributions data contained in this report were collected directly from each company. Pre-tax income, sales, and employee data for this report are primarily based on data as reported by Standard & Poor’s Research Insight database.

Survey highlights:

Pharmaceutical companies remain the top donor industry in the United States. Although lower than in 2007, their US contributions outpaced all other industry groups with respect to actual cash and product contributions.

Health and human services organizations received the largest share of corporate support, both in the United States and internationally; however, US contributions to health and human services organizations decreased in 2008.

When examined by industrial sector, manufacturing companies made 66.17% of their US contributions as non-cash (close to last year’s 68.6%), compared to the services sector at 10.22% (up from last year’s 6.09%).

The banking industry was the largest cash giver (direct and foundation) at $584.78 million, followed by pharmaceuticals ($407.85 million); retail and wholesale trade ($356.56 million); insurance ($295.60); and food, beverage, and tobacco ($262 million) US Contributions

Environmental organizations received the smallest share of US corporate giving at $146.43 million, which is just 2.54%.  Transportation companies made the largest contribution to environmental organizations, both in terms of dollars ($38.29 million) and as a percent of the industry total (37.80%). Telecommunications companies contributed the least to the environment (less than 0.01%), followed by pharmaceutical companies and precision instruments (both 0.06%)

The full report is available to London Business School staff, students, faculty and alumni from the Conference Board Research database, which can be found on the A-Z list of library databases via Portal.

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The 2009 Top Executive Compensation Report

It has been 3 years since the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released new rules for the disclosure of executive and director compensation. These rules were intended to provide shareholders and other readers of proxy statements with clearer and more consistent executive compensation data. They were also designed to provide companies with more direction regarding form and content for the presentation of executive and director compensation information. Companies reporting on executive compensation now must account for all individuals who held the positions of principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as well as the next three most highly paid executives—regardless of their start date during the calendar year. In addition to the new Compensation Discussion and Analysis (CD&A), the SEC requires more extensive executive compensation disclosures covering three broad categories: current compensation, equity related holdings that can be the source of future gains, and retirement plans and other post-employment compensation.

The recent financial crisis which resulted in the Government bailout of banks has once again placed executive compensation in the spotlight. There has been public outrage as CEOs and other executives deemed responsible for the financial crisis pocketed millions from bonuses and golden parachutes. CEO perks alone in 2008 amounted to an average of $364,041, nearly 10 times the median salary of a full-time worker. Not surprising then that CEO’s salaries have been under public scrutiny.

This annual study from the Conference Board examines salary, total cash compensation, total compensation, and the mix of compensation elements for the CEO and the five highest-paid executives for specific revenue and industry groups of US listed companies. In addition to descriptive details about the cash elements of compensation, this report provides information about stock and stock option compensation and the relationships between some key compensation elements.

The full report is available to current London Business School students, faculty, staff and alumni from the Conference Board Research database which can be found on the A-Z list of library databases in Portal.

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Cities Outlook 2010

With GDP falling by 6%, the severity of the downturn over the last six quarters means that the after-effects will be long-lasting. Not only has unemployment risen sharply to nearly 8%, many of the sectors worst affected are those that have been the cornerstone of many cities’ economies – retail, financial services, and construction. As the UK starts to emerge from the deepest recession in decades the latest Cities Outlook finds that recovery will be uneven.
 
Selected Findings:
 
Despite the recession, cities remain the backbone of the UK’s economy. Major cities in particular have the potential to reinforce their position, and generate jobs and growth as the global economy recovers.
 
London and the four largest city regions – Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester – accounted for 36% of the population in 2008, but 39% of 2008 jobs in England. Thirty-seven percent of GB knowledge-intensive businesses were clustered in London and just three major cities, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol in 2008
 
Already-robust city economies like Brighton are more likely to grow stronger, leaving others like Doncaster further behind.  This raises tough questions about how they can carve out a future that's economically sustainable.
 
Five big hitters:  The turnaround of our largest cities will be critical to the national recovery.  More than one in three jobs (39%) in England is based in just five cities - Greater London and the City Regions of Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool.
 
Five to watch: Brighton, Milton Keynes, Reading, Cambridge and Edinburgh have the right ingredients to succeed after the recession has passed.  They have strong private sectors, high levels of entrepreneurship, highly educated workforces and large shares of knowledge-intensive jobs.
 
Click here to read the full report

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Getting a Grip On Cruise Ship Pollution

With the enormous growth of the cruise industry in the past 10 years, Friends of the Earth has taken an extensive look at the environmental footprint and practices of the cruise industry, an industry that has long avoided comprehensive environmental regulation and pollution controls.  'Getting a Grip On Cruise Ship Pollution' looks at all aspects of the cruise industry from its pollution streams, to its history of environmental violations, to the modest number of environmental laws that govern the industry.  The report also contains a wide-ranging set of recommendations that provide solutions for comprehensive environmental reform of the cruise industry.

At the end of 2008, the industry was operating 189 cruise ships worldwide with close to 10 million passengers departing from North American ports in 2008 alone.  At the same time, the environmental pollution generated by cruise ships is enormous:

Cruise Ship Air Pollution:
Cruise ships emit more heat-trapping carbon dioxide per passenger mile than aircraft and trains.  Most cruise ships burn bunker fuel, which is 1,000 times dirtier than the fuel burned in diesel trucks.

Cruise Ship Water Pollution:
In one week, an average cruise ship generates 210,000 gallons of human sewage (filling approximately ten swimming pools) and 1 million gallons (40 more swimming pools) of gray water (from sinks, baths, showers, laundry, and galleys), all of which can be legally dumped untreated just 3 nautical miles from U.S. shores.

Cruise Ship Environmental Violations:
Between 1993 and 1998, the US Government charged 104 cruise ships with illegal discharges of oil, garbage, and/or hazardous wastes, resulting in over $55 million in fines for the industry since 1998.

Click here to read the report

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The 50 Best Careers of 2010

For this year's list, US News examined job growth projections for 2008 to 2018 from the US Labour Department. Occupations were identified that promised new jobs at an above-average rate over the next decade or so, as well as those that provide an above-average median income. A list of 50 jobs across five categories were selected:

Science and Technology
In this field, jobs range from network architect to meteorologist. This category includes the fastest-growing occupation of biomedical engineer with a 72% growth rate that far outstrips the 10% average across careers. Many careers that focus on the environment—from water supply to waste management are also seeing strong growth. And as American consumers and companies make technology a more critical part of their daily routines, careers in IT are expanding

Healthcare
The healthcare industry continues to offer some of the best opportunities for employment. Aside from better known careers such as registered nurse or veterinarian, there are slightly more under-the-radar careers that require less schooling, such as X-ray technician, lab technician, or physical therapist assistant. There are also promising occupations at the intersection of healthcare and education: school psychologist and medical and public-health social worker.

Business and Finance
There are plenty of promising jobs in the business and finance fields, although the opportunities have shifted slightly due to the economic shake-up. Consumers continue to seek the advice and experience of personal financial advisers, while investment banks, insurance companies, and fund management firms increasingly rely on the work of financial analysts, who gauge the performance, health, and value of companies in which a firm may want to invest. There are less well-known careers here, too, including cost estimator, a job critical to companies that need to price out projects before they start, and logistician.

Education and Civic
The need for special-education teachers will be so profound that above-average growth is expected in the preschool to elementary school years, as well as for middle school, and also secondary school years. Fire fighting is also expected to grow through 2018 and is likely to be about 19% which is above the average for all occupations

Creative and Service
This category is a bit of a hotchpotch of careers as many of the jobs listed here were hard to categorize. US News have called them "service" jobs and this category includes everything from pilots to plumbers.

Click here to see the full list

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Global Powers of Retailing 2010: Emerging From the Downturn

The retail industry is emerging from one of the most tumultuous economic years in recent memory. The 13th annual edition of the Global Powers of Retailing looks at which retailers have pulled through, which ones haven’t, which individual retail segments have struggled most, and which ones seem to have weathered the crisis. The report, produced by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in conjunction with STORES Media, ranks the world's top 250 retailers and augments that with a look at global markets, the annual Q ratio rating, and insights on what's ahead for the retail industry.

Highlights to this year’s report:

This year’s ranking see the top 10 retain their leadership roles. With combined sales approaching US$1.2 trillion, the top 10 garnered 30.2% of total top 250 sales, up from 29.6% in 2007.  Despite the recession half the group posted bigger sales increased in 2008 than in 2007. 

Emerging market retailers are set to take on established players – the playing field for retail is levelling off.  Retail spending growth in markets such as the US and UK is likely to be slower over the next decade, while a larger share of the growth will take place in countries with large surpluses, especially the big emerging markets.

Most retailers have yet to make an online push as social networking sites start to make an impact.

Retailers of food and other fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) continue to dominate the Top 250, with 134 FMCG retailers accounting for over half of the Top 250 companies and more than two-thirds of the Top 250 sales.  Walmart is still the undisputed leader and Carrefour remained in second place, where its been since 2000.  Germany’s largest retailer Metro overtook Tesco, taking the number 3 slot. This was due to the relative strength of the Euro versus the pound converting their 2008 sales into US dollars.

Click here to read the full report

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The Power Gap: an Index of Everyday Power in Britain

This latest report from Demos, a think-tank focused on power and politics examines what it means for people to be powerful. The report identifies three key elements in human power: the power to shape one’s own life; the power to be resilient in the face of shocks and the arbitrary power of others; and the power to shape the social world. These elements make up the core power capabilities that are measured throughout the Power Index. The index, created by Demos consists of eight power indicators: education; occupational status; income; employment; freedom from crime; health; voter turnout; marginality of parliamentary seat.  The key output from this index is a unique geographical map of power in the UK, which assigns power levels to every constituency in the UK.

Selected findings:

There is a marked power gap at both the bottom and the top of the index. Those at the bottom, living in what Demos terms as power deserts, have low overall control over their lives. But those at the very top possess very much more power than not only the least powerful, but also the majority of constituencies that fall in the middle.

There is uneven distribution of high power scores in the South East compared with the rest of the UK. The majority of high-scoring constituencies are in the South East, with the Home Counties figuring particularly strongly at the very top of the first band. In contrast, constituencies in the Midlands and North East score consistently in the lowest two bands, with three Birmingham constituencies appearing in the bottom ten

The Labour party overwhelmingly repre¬sents the most powerless areas. Conservative MPs typically represent the most powerful, although there is also a relatively high representation of Lib Dems in the highest-scoring constituencies. There is also a strong relationship between least powerful constituencies and BNP target seats such as Barking, Burnley and Stoke on Trent, all of which score in the low and very low power bands.

The full report can be downloaded from the Demos website

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BBB Lists Top 10 Scams and Rip-Offs of 2009

The Better Business Bureau, a North American organisation which campaigns for fair dealing, consumer rights and truthful advertising have published a list of the top 10 scams and rip-offs of 2009.  These include:

“Free” Trial Offer:  Ads offering “free” trial offers swamped the Internet in 2009. These marketing campaigns, often falsely claim to be endorsed by a celebrity, resulted in thousands of consumers complaining to BBB that the free trial actually cost them money.

Robocalls:  Placing your phone number on the do-not-call list did not help thousands of people across the US put a stop to harassing automated telemarketing calls in 2009. The sheer quantity of robocalls in 2009 violating federal telemarketing laws prompted the FTC to increase restrictions on this practice.

Lottery/Sweepstakes Scam:  Victims are tricked into believing that they have won a foreign lottery. In order to receive their winnings they are asked for money to cover taxes or some other bogus fee. The victim wires the money, but the prize never arrives

Google Work from Home Scam: Countless Web sites appeared offering free trials of learning materials to help people make money at home from sites such as Google or Twitter. As a result, many people were billed every month for these materials and other mystery charges that added up to hundreds of dollars.

Over-Payment Scams:  Over-payment scams typically target small business owners, landlords or individual sellers on classifieds or sites like Craigslist. The victim receives a cheque for more than the amount requested. The scammers then ask the victim to deposit the cheque and wire the extra amount elsewhere, such as to a shipping company. The cheque is fake and the victim is really wiring money back to the scammers.

Phishing e-mails/H1N1 spam:  A perennial problem, the goal of any phishing e-mail is the same: to trick victims into divulging sensitive financial information or to infect the victim’s computer with viruses and malware. In addition to phishing e-mails, spam e-mail selling wares to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus were particularly rampant in 2009.

Click here to read full list

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Best and Worst Jobs

 

Find out the top ten worst jobs and the best as rated by careercast.

 

 

The 2010 Jobs Rated rankings serve as a guide for anyone trying to get a clearer picture of employment in an uncertain time. Whether you're graduating from college, have recently found yourself downsized or just can't stand the thought of going back to the grind for one more day, our rankings and individual category scores can help you take the guesswork out of your job search.

 

Criiteria take into account are:

 

Physical Demands

Work Environment

Income  

Stress

Hiring Outlook

 

Go to their websiteto view the list of jobs.

 

Britain's Top 100 Entrepreneurs 2010

The January issue of Management Today presents its seventh annual survey of Britain's Top 100 Entrepreneurs.  The MT Top 100 are ranked using the following  criteria: 1) asset wealth, which is identified from their holdings in private or public companies, share sales, dividends and salaries; 2) Percentage growth in turnover over the past five years (or less if figures do not go back that far);  3) Percentage growth in jobs created in the past five years. This is designed to highlight the important role of the Top 100 entrepreneurs as the leading job creators in the private sector. Finally, MT add up the figures for the entrepreneurs' ranking in, respectively, the wealth, turnover and employment columns.

Looking at two of the key measures of performance - growth in turnover and employment - it is heartening to report that the MT100 turnover has grown from £11.2bn to £24.9bn, a healthy 122% rise, which naturally means more economic activity spreading round the UK.  More importantly perhaps, their total headcount has risen in five years by over 48,000 to 137,914. This represents a 53% rise and shows that in the crucial area of productivity, the entrepreneurs making the list are right on top of their game. They are getting more work out of their staff, with turnover growing at more than twice the rate of employment growth.

This years ranking sees another decline in the female headcount with just eight women included this year. It was nine in 2009 and a record 29 in 2008. But the women nclude are of outstanding quality - Natalie Massenet, for example, who founded online clothing boutique Net-a-porter.com in 2000 makes it to number three, the highest recorded position for a female entrepreneur since the Top 100 began. One other aspect worthy of note is that 2010 is the year of grey power, with a whopping 58 of our entrepreneurs aged 60 or above, and no fewer than 11 aged 70 or over. Commentators who claim that the recession has hit the younger generation hardest may have a point.

Click here to see the full list

Interested in reading more? Management today is available online to current London Business School staff, students and faculty from Business Source complete and Factiva (check Article finder for date ranges) . The library also holds the hardcopy version going back to 1966.

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She Figures 2009

She Figures 2009 is the third publication of a set of key indicators that look at the current situation of women in science and research. The She Figures data collection is undertaken every three years as a joint venture of the Scientific Culture and Gender Issues Unit of the
Directorate-General for Research of the European Commission and the group of Statistical Correspondents of the Helsinki Group. The major findings and trends put forward by She Figures 2009 can be summarised as follows:

Women in scientific research remain a minority, accounting for 30% of researchers in the EU in 2006.

In the EU-27, 45% of all PhD graduates were women in 2006; they equal or outnumber men in all broad fields of study, except for science, mathematics and computing (41%), and engineering, manufacturing and construction (25%).

Over the period 2002-2006, there has been an increase in the overall number of female researchers in almost all fields of science in the EU-27: the most positive growth figures characterised the fields of the medical sciences, the humanities, engineering and technology and the social sciences

The highest shares of female researchers in the Business Enterprise Sector are in the fields of the agricultural and medical sciences and the lowest shares in engineering and technology.

Women’s academic career remains markedly characterised by strong vertical segregation: the proportion of female students (55%) and graduates (59%) exceeds that of male students, but men outnumber women among PhD students and graduates (the proportion of female students drops back to 48% and that of PhD graduates to 45%). Furthermore, women represent only 44% of grade C academic staff, 36% of grade B academic staff and 18% of grade A academic staff.

The proportion of women among full professors is highest in the humanities and the social sciences (respectively 27.0% and 18.6%) and lowest in engineering and technology, at 7.2%.

The official measure of the overall gender pay gap covering the entire economy stood at 25% in the EU-27 in 2006, a slight improvement from 2002 when it stood at 26%.

On average throughout the EU-27, 13% of institutions in the Higher Education Sector are headed by women and just 9% of universities have a female head.

Click here to read the full report

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