BizResearch

European Business: Facts and Figures 2009

This publication from Eurostat provides a comprehensive picture of the structure, development and characteristics of the European business economy and its different sectors. It presents the latest available statistics from a wide selection of statistical sources. The main source of analysis is derived from structural business statistics (SBS).  Other data sources which are used extensively throughout the publication include short-term statistics (STS), the labour force survey (LFS), PRODCOM (statistics by product) and external trade.  In addition, use has also been made of specialist sources for particular areas, notably transport, energy, research and development, environment, tourism and information society statistics.

The report covers: production and employment; country specialisation and regional distribution; cost structure, productivity and profitability; external trade, and more. It divides ‘the business economy’ into 25 main sectors from mining and quarrying, through manufacturing activities, to energy transmission and recycling, construction and a range of services. Each of these sectors are analysed in detail in separate chapters.  It does not cover agriculture, forestry and fishing, nor the public administration and largely non-market services such as education and health.

The first chapter provides a general overview of the EU’s business economy, with comparisons across the main sectors. In addition, it provides information of a horizontal nature based on data on business demography and foreign controlled enterprises, as well as size class analysis of enterprises’ population. A particular effort has been made in this edition to include, where available, data at the most detailed activity level (NACE Rev. 1.1 four digit or class level) and to facilitate further comparisons across the different activities of the business economy.

Click here to see the full report

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr:Lumaxart

Equality in Higher Education

This report from the Equality Challenge Unit is based mainly on analysis of Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data for the 2007/08 academic year relating to gender, ethnicity, disability and age. It covers staff, students and graduates in UK higher education institutions (HEIs). The report also includes some aspects of time series, covering the past five years’ data, 2003/04 to 2007/08

Selected findings:

Across all types of staff within HEIs, women were in a slight majority at 53.2% in 2007/08. Representation of women varied markedly between different occupational types. Highest levels of representation existed within the support and administration occupations whereas lowest representation was seen within the technician, manual and craft areas.  Representation of women was lower in senior academic-grade groups than in less senior ones. Women made up 18.7% of staff at professor/head of department grades in 2007/08 compared with 45.4% for other grades.

For all staff in 2007/08, 6.4% reported their ethnicity within the black and minority ethnic (BME) group. This showed an increase from the 2003/04 figure of 5.4%.  The largest single ethnic group was Asian or Asian British, amounting to 33.8% of all BME staff.  Within academic staff, the percentage of BME staff stood at 6.4% in 2007/08. BME staff were less likely than white staff to be in senior academic grades. 9.7% of BME academic staff were at professor/head of department grades in 2007/08 compared with 12.1% of white academic staff.

Over the past five years, the proportion of male students compared with female students has remained relatively stable, with women outnumbering men. In 2007/08, females made up 57.1% of the student population with the remaining 42.9% being male.  In general, women were more likely to obtain a higher class of degree than men, with 63.8% of females obtaining a first or upper second class honours degree compared with 58.2% of males.

The proportion of BME students studying at HEIs has gradually increased from 14.9% in 2003/04 to 17.2% in 2007/08. The largest BME group was Asian across all years (when Asian or Asian British, Chinese, Other Asian).

The age profile of students has changed slightly, with the population generally becoming slightly younger. The proportion of students aged 21 and under on entry has grown steadily from 45.4% in 2003/04 to 47.7% in 2007/08.

The full report can be downloaded from the ECU website

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: jeco

Pay Developments - 2008

This annual report from the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO), based mainly on contributions from its correspondents, provides a broad indication of trends in pay increases over 2007 and 2008 across the current 27 EU Member States (EU27) and Norway.  It looks at the following areas: collectively agreed pay rises across the economy as a whole and in three selected sectors (metalworking, banking and local government); national minimum wage increases and current rates; gender pay differentials; and average increases in earnings.

Main findings:

EIRO’s annual analysis of pay trends finds that the average collectively agreed nominal wage increase across the EU fell from 7% in 2007 to 6.6% in 2008. Taking into account inflation, which rose strongly in 2008, the rate of real pay increase across the EU fell sharply, from 3.6% in 2007 to 1.3% in 2008. During the period under review, differences in terms of both pay trends and the level of pay increases persisted between the EU Member States that constituted the EU before the enlargement of 1 May 2004 and those that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007.

The gap between men’s and women’s earnings still persists, according to recent research on pay developments from Eurofound. On average, women across the EU in 2008 earned 16.6% less than men. This is despite the explicit gender-neutral terms of European collective agreements and minimum wage laws.  Among the 28 countries under review in this study, the gender pay gap (on the basis of the data used) is widest in Estonia (at 30.3%) and narrowest in Italy (at 4.4%). Other countries with a notably narrow gender pay differential of less than 10 percentage points include Portugal and Slovenia, while those with a comparatively wide gender pay gap of more than 20 percentage points include Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Slovakia.

Click here to read the full report

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: Ian David

The Europeans in 2009

In terms of European public opinion, the Eurobarometer survey has captured the transition from the economic ‘feel-good’ situation prior to the economic crisis to an economic ‘feel-bad’ situation which by autumn 2008 permeated all aspects of life.  In fact, the latest results show that the ‘feel-bad factor’ is so intense that one of the most resilient indicators of the Eurobarometer - life satisfaction - is beginning to show cracks. Furthermore, the survey indicates that the economic crisis may be widening the geographical gap in living standards between the Northern and Western European countries and those in the South and East of Europe survey. Already vulnerable groups - in particular the unemployed - are most strongly hit by the crisis. In summary, the economic crisis has an extreme impact on life in the European Union.

The intensity of the current economic crisis is strikingly evident from the survey. The latest results reveal that close to eight out of ten Europeans at present rate their national economy and the world economy as bad (79% each). It should be noted that the situation of the European economy is evaluated slightly more positively (22% rate it as good) than the national economy (19%) or the world economy (14%).  This negative public opinion is matched by the lowest ever consumer confidence level since the European Commission began measuring this economic indicator in 1985 and is all-encompassing: it is voiced by all segments of the European population, young and old, well-educated or not, in work, retired or unemployed although slight differences between the various socio-demographic groups do exist.
 
This report is divided into two main parts. The first part examines life in the European Union as perceived by its citizens analysing the perceptions of Europeans with regards to the economic situation, employment and other aspects of social reality which influence quality of life.  Finally, it looks at what role citizens believe the European Union can play in improving the economic situation and preventing a crisis of this scope from happening again.  The second part of the report presents the trend indicators that measure perceptions and opinions about the European Union and its institutions. It also analyses the perceived role played by the European Union in a range of policy matters and examines which aspects should be emphasised more to strengthen the EU in the future. Finally, this part of the report briefly examines trust in the information media and people’s political preferences.
 
Eurobarometer reports are based on in-depth thematical studies carried out for various services of the European Commission or other EU Institutions and integrated in Standard Eurobarometer's polling waves.

Click here to read the full report

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: Stewf

World Investment Report 2009

Global FDI flows have been severely affected worldwide by the recent economic and financial crisis according to the latest World Investment Report from UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development). Initially developed economies were most affected but now the decline has spread to developing countries too. This poses many challenges for developing countries as FDI has become their largest source of external financing. Inflows are expected to fall from $1.7 trillion to below $1.2 trillion in 2009, with a slow recovery in 2010 (to a level up to $1.4 trillion) and gaining momentum in 2011 (approaching $1.8 trillion).

Main findings from the report:

The crisis has changed the FDI landscape: investments to developing and transition economies surged, increasing their share in global FDI flows to 43% in 2008. This was partly due to a concurrent large decline in FDI flows to developed countries (29%). In Africa, inflows rose to a record level, with the fastest increase in West Africa (a 63% rise over 2007); inflows to South, East and South-East Asia witnessed a 17% expansion to hit a new high; FDI to West Asia continued to rise for the sixth consecutive year; inflows to Latin America and the Caribbean rose by 13%; and the expansion of FDI inflows to South-East Europe and the CIS rose for the eighth year running. However, in 2009 FDI flows to all regions will suffer from a decline.

The agriculture and extractive industries have weathered the crisis relatively well, compared with business-cycle-sensitive industries such as metal manufacturing. In addition, there is a better outlook for FDI in industries such as agribusiness, many services and pharmaceuticals. With regard to the mode of investment, greenfield investments were initially more resilient to the crisis in 2008, but were hit badly in 2009. On the other hand, cross-border M&As have been on a continuous decline, but are likely to lead the future recovery. Divestments were particularly significant during the crisis.

There was a marked downturn in FDI by private equity funds as access to easy financing dried up. Endowed with sizeable assets, sovereign wealth funds attained a record FDI high in 2008, though they too faced challenges caused by falling export earnings in their home countries. Overall policy trends during the crisis have so far been mostly favourable to FDI, both nationally and internationally. However, in some countries a more restrictive FDI approach has emerged. There is also growing evidence of “covert” protectionism

Click here to download the report

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: Tim Morgan

Economic Survey of the European Union 2009

The 2009 Economic Survey of the European Union from the OECD says Europe has responded promptly to the crisis amid signs that member countries will emerge from the recession earlier than expected. But it adds that emergency policies to stabilize financial markets and support the economy must not endanger the single market and must be withdrawn once the economy recovers. Other structural reforms are needed in order to help prevent future financial crises and improve economic performance include improving financial regulation and supervision, raising the long-term sustainability of public finances and further increasing foreign access to European markets.

A major challenge for the EU over the longer-term is to raise the level of innovation; despite numerous policy initiatives, Europe still lags behind the United States and Japan in research and innovation. An integrated labour market for researchers, a European Community patent and a Unified Patent Litigation System would help to stimulate innovation. Tackling obstacles to the funding of innovation and encouraging research co–operation are also critical.

The report also argues that the EU must continue to resist the rise in protectionist sentiment and push for global trade liberalisation. Although recent reforms have reduced distortions in the Common Agricultural Policy, support could be further decoupled from production and payments better targeted to achieve ecological, social or other policy objectives.

In terms of environmental issues, policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gases, promoting low–emission technologies and cutting energy consumption are helping Europe to become a low-carbon economy. But the measures need to focus more on correcting only genuine market failures and be flexible enough to cope with future environmental, economic and technological changes. Faster liberalisation of EU electricity and gas markets is critical to increase competition and improve energy security.

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

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: openDemocracy

Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010

Switzerland tops the overall ranking in the latest Global Competitiveness Report, an annual ranking produced by the World Economic Forum. The US falls one place to second position, due to its weakened financial markets and macroeconomic stability.  Rounding of the top five are Singapore, Sweden and Denmark. European economies continue to prevail in the top 10 with Finland, Germany and the Netherlands following suit. The UK has moved down one more place this year to 13th, mainly because of continued weakening of its financial markets.

The People’s Republic of China continues to lead the way among large developing economies, improving by one place this year. Among the three other large BRIC economies, Brazil and India also improve, while Russia falls by 12 places. Several Asian economies perform strongly with Japan, Hong Kong SAR, Republic of Korea and Taiwan, China also in the top 20. In Latin America, Chile is the highest ranked country, followed by Costa Rica and Brazil.
 
A number of countries in the Middle East and North Africa region are in the upper half of the rankings, led by Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Tunisia, with particular improvements noted in the Gulf States, which continue their upward trend of recent years. In sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa, Mauritius and Botswana feature in the top half of the rankings, with a number of other countries from the region measurably improving their competitiveness.
 
The rankings used for the Global Competitiveness Report are based on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), which was specially developed for the World Economic Forum.  The rankings use 12 measures of competitiveness which include: Institutions; Infrastructure; Macroeconomic Stability; Health and Primary Education; Higher Education and Training; Goods Market Efficiency;  Labour Market Efficiency; Financial Market Sophistication; Technological Readiness; Market Size; Business Sophistication; and Innovation. The Report provides detailed profiles for each of the 133 economies featured in the study along with data tables with global rankings for over 110 indicators.  This year’s Report also includes a number of discussions of selected countries and regions including the United States, the large emerging BRIC economies and the 12 recent accession members of the European Union, providing an in-depth analysis of the issues affecting national competitiveness.

The full report can be downloaded from the World Economic forum website

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: Nomi & Malcolm

Recent Developments in the UK Housing Market

Over the last decade the UK housing market has generated a large amount of interest and discussion. Between 1998 and 2007 house prices rose dramatically, generating large increases in equity for homeowners but also making homeownership unaffordable for a large segment of the population.  Rising house prices have also led to an unprecedented increase in the level of household debt. With the UK economy now in the midst of what is likely to be its worst ever recession, the fragility of household balance sheets may then feed back into weaker demand, prolonging the extent of the downturn.

The purpose of this article by Graeme Chamberlin is to outline key developments in the UK housing market since 1998. The first part of this article describes trends in UK house prices, presenting the recent boom and bust in a historical and regional context. Next, the effect of house price movements on affordability is analysed to see whether house prices have now fallen to sustainable levels or still have further to go. The article then goes on to discuss housing finance, specifically the growth in mortgage lending to households. Finishing off with a look at current housing stocks and how these compare to future needs based on likely changes in the size and characteristics of the population.

Key findings:

• Average house price to income ratios have fallen back towards but are not quite at their long-term averages. But for first time buyers the ratio is still significantly above the long-term average

• Repossessions have not reached the same level as in the early 1990s, reflecting sharp cuts in interest rates and lenders treating possession as a last resort

• The proportion of first time buyers has fallen, but this might reflect changing preferences to homeownership as well as affordability constraints. Their presence in the market had been replaced by buy to let investors until the credit crunch limited funding,

• The UK housing market continues to exhibit strong evidence of undersupply based on low house building, growing numbers of households and a mismatch between the types of properties demanded and supplied. The fall in residential new orders brought on by the current recession and credit crunch will exacerbate these supply issues

This article can be downloaded from the August edition of the Economic & Labour Market Review (Vol 3:8)

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: Woodleywonderworks

Travel Trends 2008

The Office for National Statistics have just release the 2008 edition of Travel Trends. This annual publication presents the main findings from the International Passenger Survey (IPS).  It provides detailed analyses on visits overseas residents made to the UK and on visits UK residents made abroad. It also gives information on the long-term trends in travel to and from the UK, over a twenty-year period, plus shorter term trends, over a five-year period.

Selected findings:

The number of visits to the UK has fallen for the first time since 2001, the year that saw the outbreak of foot and mouth disease and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. UK residents also made fewer visits abroad. In total, 69.0 million visits were made, down 0.6% on 2007.

The destination of UK residents travelling overseas remained broadly the same as in previous years. Spain and France dominated the list, accounting for 36% of all visits, followed by the USA, the Irish Republic, Italy, Germany and Portugal. Visits to many countries fell during 2008, but there were some exceptions with large increases in visits to Romania, Mexico, Egypt and Slovakia (all up 30% or more).

The highest number of visits to all regions was made by European residents. In Scotland, the second largest group was visitors from North America, but in Wales, London and the rest of England, North American visits were outnumbered by visits from residents of other, non-European countries

Once again London hosted more overnight stays by overseas residents than any other city or region of the UK, while the rest of the top 10 stayed much the same as in 2007.

From the top 50 most visited towns and cities, overseas visitors stayed longest in Bradford, averaging 19 days per visit, and Bournemouth and Exeter, both with 13. Dover had the shortest average stay, with two nights.

The full report and previous edition going back to 1999 can be downloaded from the Office For National Statistics website.

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: James Cridland

Digital Music Attitudes and Behaviour Report

This annual survey commissioned by UK Music, the industry's new collective body,  profiles the music consumption habits of 14-24 year olds across the UK. The findings are based on a large-scale survey of 1808 UK respondents carried out the University Of Hertfordshire.

Key findings on the music consumption of 14-24 year-olds:

The computer is now their main entertainment hub: 68% listen to music on their computer every day. By comparison, only 15% use their CD player on a daily basis.

Size of digital music collections: the average computer or hard drive contains over 8,000 tracks (approximately 17 days worth of music).

Ownership: young people are using the growing range of licensed digital music stores and they still want to own music on physical formats.

Music remains their most popular form of entertainment: however, there remains a significant "value gap" between the popularity of music and the amount of money spent on it, especially compared to other entertainment types.

File-sharing:  61% of respondents download music using P2P networks or torrent trackers. This is unchanged from last year. Of this group, 83% are doing so on a weekly or daily basis.
The main reason for file-sharing is cost: it's free. However, respondents also use P2P to find music that is not commercially available (for instance, before a piece of music is released commercially) or to experiment and 'try-before-they-buy'.

Paying for digital music: 85% of P2P downloaders would be interested in paying for an unlimited, MP3 download service. 57% of these said such a service would stop them using unlicensed P2P services, and 77% that they would still continue to buy CDs.

Streaming music online: 78% of respondents said they would not pay for such a service.

Digital music consumption is getting more complex: 86% of respondents have copied a CD for a friend; 75% have sent music by email, Bluetooth, Skype or MSN; 57% have copied a friend's entire music collection; 39% have downloaded music from an online storage site; and 38% have ripped a TV, radio or internet stream.

Copyright: The vast majority of respondents knew that sharing copyrighted content (as above) is not legal - yet continue to do so anyway.

The survey is presented in two separate reports - qualitative focus group report / quantitative survey report

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: Morrisey

Global Development Finance: Charting a Global Recovery

Global Development Finance is the World Bank’s annual review of global financial conditions facing developing countries. The current volume provides analysis of key trends and prospects, including coverage of the role of international banking in developing countries.  This year’s report warns that the world is entering an era of slower growth that will require tighter and more effective oversight of the financial system. Developing countries are expected to grow by only 1.2% this year, after 8.1% growth in 2007 and 5.9% growth in 2008. When China and India are excluded, GDP in the remaining developing countries is projected to fall by 1.6%, causing continued job losses and throwing more people into poverty.  Charting a worldwide recovery will require quick implementation of detailed reforms and an eventual shift away from governments having high stakes in the financial system to a resumption of private sector control of the banking system, the report says. In addition, the big expansion of the money supply in advanced countries will need to be unwound and fiscal deficits will need to be cut in the medium term, to maintain debt sustainability and avoid another debt crisis as seen in the 1970s and 1980s.
 
Outlook for the Developing Regions
 

• East Asia and Pacific:  recovery across the region is expected to begin in the second half of 2009 and into 2010, reflecting substantial fiscal stimulus in China and a modest recovery of export demand in rich countries.
  
• Europe and Central Asia: large current account deficits and domestic overheating made many countries vulnerable to the abrupt reversal of capital flows and weaker export demand that the crisis generated. GDP is projected to fall by 4.7% in 2009, recovering to grow by about 1.6% in 2010.
  
• Latin America and the Caribbean: entered the crisis supported by stronger fiscal, currency, and financial fundamentals than in the past. Flexible exchange rates were able to absorb much of the initial shock and avoid systemic problems even as equity markets tumbled.
  
• The Middle East and North Africa:  less directly affected by the credit crunch than other regions. Growth is projected to halve to 3.1% in 2009, then edge up to 3.8% in 2010 and 4.6% in 2011, partly because the slowdown has been less pronounced in MENA than in other regions and oil demand and prices are expected to remain low.
  
• South Asia: have experienced considerably diminished capital inflows and a falloff in investment growth. GDP is projected to expand 4.6% in 2009, down from 6.1% in 2008. Regional output is then expected to increase by 7% in 2010 and 7.8% in 2011. However, threats to long-term growth include the possibility of heightened fiscal pressures if the global recession is prolonged, and large fiscal deficits.
  
• Sub-Saharan Africa: growth is expected to decelerate sharply this year to 1%.  Sharp cuts in remittances and official aid flows also represent a risk for the region, because many Sub-Saharan countries rely on aid flows for budget support and because remittances are a vital cushion against poverty.

Click here to read the report. 

Photo from Creative Commons: flickr: Viking 79

Digital Competitiveness report

The European Commission's latest report outlines the results of five years of EU policy under the Barroso Commission promoting the latest communication technologies, new networks and services and creative media content,. Its findings show that Europe's digital sector has made strong progress since 2005.

Main findings

56% of Europeans now regularly use the internet, 80% of them via a high-speed connection (compared to only one third in 2004), making Europe the world leader in broadband internet. Europe is the world's first truly mobile continent with more mobile subscribers than citizens (a take up rate of 119%).

People aged 16 to 24 are the most active internet users: 73% of them regularly use advanced services to create and share online content, twice the EU population average (35%). 66% of all Europeans under 24 use the internet every day, compared to the EU average of 43%. They also have more advanced internet skills than the rest of the population, according to a Commission study on digital literacy, also released today.

Although the "digital generation" seems reluctant to pay to download or view online content like videos or music (33%), in reality twice as many of them have paid for these services compared to the rest of the population (10% of young users, compared to an EU average of 5%). They are also more willing to pay for offers of better service and quality.

Despite progress, a third of EU citizens have never used the internet. Only 7% of consumers have shopped online in another Member State. Europe is still behind the US and Japan in R&D investments in information and communication technologies (ICT), high-speed broadband communications, and developing innovative markets like online advertising.

Upcoming challenges for Digital Europe are raised in a public consultation launched by the Commission, open until 9 October 2009. This is the first step towards a new European ICT strategy which the Commission aims to present in 2010 as part of the next wave of the Lisbon Agenda.

Click here to read the report

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: Arjan Almekinders 

Consumers in Europe

The 2009 edition of Consumers in Europe presents a comprehensive set of data and related information concerning consumer markets and consumer protection issues within the European Union. The aim of the publication is to bring together the most relevant and useful information for the evaluation and development of consumer policy, not only as a tool for policy-makers, but also for those interested in end-markets and consumer affairs, such as representative organisations, public authorities, or suppliers of goods and services. Much of the data that has been used will feed into the consumer markets scoreboard which has been designed to monitor outcomes in the single market and to make European Union policy in this area more responsive to the expectations and concerns of consumers.

The publication starts with an overview of the single market from the consumer’s perspective, presenting a profile of European consumers and the retail network, as well as issues relating to access and choice, before looking at key indicators for consumption and prices. The overview also presents information on consumer satisfaction, the quality and safety of goods and services, as well consumer representation and protection. The remainder of the publication is devoted to 12 specific consumer markets:

• Food and non-alcoholic beverages
• Alcoholic beverages and tobacco
• Clothing and footwear
• Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels
• Furnishings, household equipment and maintenance
• Health
• Transport
• Communications
• Recreation and culture
• Education
• Restaurants and hotels
• Miscellaneous goods and services

Each chapter covers one top-level heading within the classification of individual consumption by purpose (COICOP), the main classification used to provide detailed data on consumer prices, price levels and consumption expenditure. The chapters are structured in a similar manner to the overview, in an attempt to present harmonised data and a range of key indicators that may be compared across the publication.

Click here to read the report in full

Picture from Creative Comons: Flickr: Agramainio

Social protection and social inclusion 2008: EU indicators

This Commission Staff Working document provides an analysis of indicators on the social situation and social policies in Europe. These indicators were adopted by the European Council in 2006 in order to monitor the progress towards the common objectives and to facilitate comparisons of best practices.

Selected findings:

The size and age-structure of Europe’s population will continue to undergo dramatic changes due to low fertility rates, increases in life expectancy and the retirement of the baby-boom generation. Member States have started to address the demographic challenge in a context of tight fiscal constraints.

Public finances in the EU have deteriorated in a number of countries since 2000. Debt ratios in 2007 remained above the 60% of GDP threshold in Belgium, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, Hungary, Portugal, Cyprus and Malta. Reforms have had a significant impact in BE and EL (where, however, the debt ratio still remains close to 85% or more), and in CY and MT, where the debt ratio is expected to fall below the 60% threshold in the coming two years.

Pensions and health care functions that mostly benefit elderly people are most likely to be affected by the expected ageing of the population. According to Eurostat projections, the age structure of the EU population will change dramatically. By 2060, in the EU people in age of working (15- to 64-year-olds) will be 50 million less than in 2008, while the number of people aged 65 and over will increase by nearly 67 million. The old-age dependency ratio (the number of 65+ relative to those aged 15-64) is projected to double, reaching 53.5% in 2060. This means that the four working-age people to each pensioner in 2008 will drop to two to one by 2060.

In the EU-27, both men and women have gained approximately 4 years in life expectancy over the last 20 years. Significant increases in life expectancy at the age of 45 (around +2.5 years for men & +2.2 years for women between 1996 and 2006) and at the age of 65 (around +2 years for men & women) indicate that gains in life expectancy are more and more happening due to improvements in survivorship of older people. The challenge is now for social protection systems to ensure that people are living and working longer in good health, not only to improve the well-being of citizens but also to help maintain a healthy workforce and to limit increases in expenditure on health and long-term care in old age.

Click here to read the report in full

Picture from Creative Commons: flickr: Victoria Peckham

Society at a Glance 2009: OECD Social Indicators

This is the fifth edition of Society at a Glance, the biennial OECD compendium of social indicators. The publication gives an overview of social trends and policy developments in OECD countries using indicators taken from OECD studies and other sources. It attempts to help people see how their societies have changed, particularly in comparison with other countries. Indicators describing four main dimensions are covered (self-sufficiency, equity, health and social cohesion).

The 2009 report also contains a special chapter on leisure time across the OECD for which up-to-date time-use surveys are available. The amount and quality of leisure time is important for people's well-being for the direct satisfaction it brings. The report reveals big differences in the amount of time men and women have for leisure. Italian men have nearly 80 minutes a day of leisure more than women. Much of the additional work of Italian women is apparently spent cleaning the house. Norway is the most equal society, with men having only a few more minutes of leisure than women.  Norwegians spend just over a quarter of their time on leisure, the highest among OECD countries, while Mexicans spend just 16%, the lowest.

So what are we doing with our leisure time? Watching TV absorbs nearly half of all leisure time in Mexico and Japan and falls to a low of 25% in New Zealand. Turkey is the most sociable nation, spending 35% of leisure time entertaining friends which is  more than triple the OECD average of 11%. But OECD countries are not very physically active: Spain reports the highest proportion of leisure time spent doing regular physical activities. Even there, exercise accounts for a mere 13% of leisure time. Other social indicators covered in Society at a Glance include adult height, fertility rates, education spending, income inequality, obesity, healthcare spending and life and work satisfaction.

Data and indicators can be downloaded from the OECD website

The full publication is available to current London Business School staff, students and faculty from SourceOECD available from the A-Z list of library databases via Portal.

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: eekim

Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific

This is the second issue of the Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific. The yearbook produced by the United Nations’ regional arm – the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), presents statistical data that  provides a detailed picture of the major economic, social and environmental trends over the past two decades, as well as cross-cutting issues such as poverty and gender.  The Asia-Pacific region is home to 4.1 billion people – more than 60% of the world’s population. This region has enjoyed robust economic growth with its middle-income economies, reaching a remarkable growth rate of 9.1% in 2007

Other Highlights from the report:

The internationalization of Asia-Pacific companies is evident in the UNCTAD list of the top 100 non-financial transnational corporations from developing countries. During the period 2000-2006, merchandise exports from Asia and the Pacific grew annually by 12.9%. The leading exporters were China and Japan. But the economies trading most intensively were the smaller ones, such as Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, China, where exports exceeded GDP.

The down side to this rapid economic development has been on the environment. In Asia and the Pacific, only 30% of the land area is covered by forests – one of the lowest proportions among the global regions. For the period 1990-2005, more than half the reporting countries lost more forest cover.

Despite volatile oil prices, most countries continued to increase their total primary energy consumption. Of this, 80% came from fossil fuels and the remainder predominantly from nuclear power, hydropower and traditional fuels, such as wood and animal dung.

Rising energy consumption has also increased greenhouse gas emissions – currently some 12 billion tons annually – though emissions per capita remain relatively low at 3.2 tons per person per year. The largest emitters are the middle-income economies, such as China, the Russian Federation, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. The region also contributes 50% of global emissions of sulphur dioxide, mainly from burning fossil fuels, especially coal.

The full report can be downloaded from the ESCAP website.

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: Josh Essen

Survey on the Attitudes of Europeans towards Tourism

This survey, conducted by Gallup on behalf of the Directorate General Enterprise and Industry, looks at the attitudes of EU citizens to tourism. The report presents details of holidays and travel taken between 2007 and 2008, as well as plans for future holidays in 2009.  It highlights variances in responses based on the interviewees’ country of residence, their socio-demographic background and fundamental attitudes towards holidays and travel. It also examines how EU citizens chose a holiday destination.

A special emphasis was put on the financial aspect of taking a holiday, as this is becoming the prime concern for travellers as well as for the tourism industry in the midst of a serious economic downturn affecting all economies of the EU.
 
Selected highlights from the report:

• Overall, in 2008, two-thirds of EU citizens (67%) made a private trip where they spent at least one night away from home; 58% took a vacation, defined by a stay somewhere away from home for at least four consecutive nights for private reasons. 
  
  
• The most popular holiday destinations of the EU holiday makers in 2008 were Spain, Italy, France and Greece – and these countries dominate the current plans made for 2009. 
  
  
• On average, European tourists prefer value for money (33%) over “low price” (16%). Safety and security at the destination was important for 13% of respondents and 12% indicated that they usually focus on quality – not necessarily in conjunction with the associated costs. 
  
  
• Cost in itself is an overriding concern in countries where the survey found - proportionally - the least people taking a holiday. This shows that a lack of disposable income on the part of a large section of the population is a barrier to travel. Countries, where “price” is clearly the most important factor are Hungary, Poland, Romania, Latvia and Lithuania. 
  
  
• The Internet has clearly become the most influential “non-personal” information source for holiday planning: 38% use this medium that provides commercial information as well as peer reviews and recommendations. Those respondents who prefer going “off the beaten track” rely heavily on the Internet: almost half of those interviewees indicated that they seek information online. 

Click here to read the full report.

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: merfam

Social Trends 2009

This year’s Social Trends, the annual ‘state of the nation’ report from the Office for National Statistics takes the theme of households, families and children. The report findings show that nearly a third of men and a fifth of women aged 20 to 34 live with their parents, which equates to around 1.8 million men and 1.1 million women. Since 2001, the number of 20 to 34-year-olds living at the parental home has increased by nearly 300,000. Part of the reason for this increase may be that more young adults are continuing their studies after compulsory education. Another factor may be that the unemployment rate is higher for people aged 16 to 24 than for older people. According to a Eurobarometer survey in 2007, the most common reasons given by young adults in Europe for why young people live with their parents were that they couldn’t afford to move out or that there wasn’t enough affordable housing available

Other highlights from the report:

The number of people aged 90 and over in Great Britain increased from around 125,000 in 1971 to around 417,000 in 2007.

The number of residential property transactions per month in the UK halved between January and November 2008, from 104,000 to 52,000.

The proportion of electricity generated from renewable sources accounted for around 5% of all electricity generated in the UK in 2007.

The average prices of premium unleaded petrol and diesel in the UK reached a peak in July 2008, at 119.6 pence per litre and 133.0 pence per litre respectively.

Between 2003 and 2007, holiday trips by UK residents to Latvia increased from 4,000 to around 50,000.

Click here to read the full report

Picture from Creative Commons: Flcikr: Anyhoo

OECD Factbook 2009: Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics

How equitable is access to health and education in OECD countries?  How wide are the differences in economic performance between regions? To what extent do government benefits and taxes reduce poverty?
 
The data needed to answers such questions can be found in the OECD’s Factbook 2009, an annual digest of economic, social and environmental statistics. This year the special feature is on inequality. Avoiding economic hardship is a primary objective of social policy. As perceptions of "a decent standard of living" vary across countries and over time, no commonly agreed measure of "absolute" poverty across OECD countries exists. A starting point for measuring poverty is therefore to look at "relative" poverty, a measure based on the income that is most typical in each country in each year. The average poverty rate across OECD countries was about 11% in the mid-2000s. There is considerable diversity across countries: poverty rates are 17% or more in the Mexico, Turkey and the United States, but below 6% in the Czech Republic, Denmark and Sweden. On average, in OECD countries, the mean income of poor people is 29% lower than median income (poverty gap), with larger gaps in Mexico, Switzerland and the United States and lower ones in Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland and the Netherlands.
 
The Factbook includes more than 160 major indicators overall. In addition to data for OECD countries, the latest edition provides a broad range of statistics for other major world economies such as India, China and Brazil. Among the topics covered are:

• Population and migration trends
• Economic growth rates, trade and globalisation
• Prices, purchasing power and taxation
• Energy supply and oil prices
• Employment and unemployment rates and trends
• Spending on research and development
• Communication and internet access
• Environmental indicators and trends
• Government debt & public spending on education, health, law & order, defence, & infrastructure.
• Health and quality of life.

The factbook is avaialble from the OECD website and can be viewed online or downloaded in sections in PDF format. Data can be downloaded into Excel and the site also include free access to interactive graphs

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: MarkyBon

Transport Trends 2008

This annual publication from the Department for Transport presents an overview and analysis of trends in transport and travel in Great Britain.
 
Some of the main findings from the report:

Road traffic in Great Britain has grown by 87% since 1980. Many factors have affected traffic levels, including fuel prices, economic growth and an increase in car ownership and number of drivers. Nearly a third of households now have access to two or more cars, more than the proportion of households without access to a car. Men are still more likely to have a driving licence but the proportion of women holding a licence has been increasing at a faster rate.

The number of bus journeys has declined from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s, but has shown some increase over the past 7 years, mainly because of increased bus use in London, and the introduction of free concessionary travel for elderly and disabled passengers. Rail travel has increased by over 60% since 1980 despite the effects of the Hatfield crash in October 2000. Investment in national rail infrastructure has increased significantly since privatisation. The reliability of train services has been improving gradually since 2000, as has passenger satisfaction with journeys undertaken.

The number of UK residents travelling abroad for the purpose of a holiday increased considerably over the period and although the number of holiday visits to the UK by overseas residents also increased, the proportion for this purpose declined as a proportion of all visits. The growth in air travel accounts for the majority of the increases in visits to and from the UK; the number of passengers using UK airports has more than quadrupled between 1980 and 2007. Spain is the most popular country visited by UK residents, followed by the USA.

Walking and cycling for travel purposes have both declined significantly over the past decade. The accompanying growth in motorised transport has resulted in a 54% increase in carbon dioxide emissions from domestic transport sources since 1980, which now account for 24% of UK carbon dioxide emissions. Emissions of local air pollutants have declined with the advent of catalytic converters and cleaner fuels. Despite an improvement in vehicle fuel efficiency, the fuel consumed by transport has increased due to growth in road traffic together with a substantial rise in international aviation.

Click here to download the full report

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: Image Zen

Second European Quality of Life Survey Overview

The European Quality of Life Survey carried out by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) represents a unique attempt to explore quality of life throughout Europe. With information gathered from 35,000 interviews conducted in 31 countries, it is a major source of information for anyone interested in the social and economic challenges facing the EU in the wake of the two recent rounds of enlargement.

Quality of life in terms of this survey is defined as the scope that individuals have to achieve their own goals. The survey measures resources and living conditions through objective and descriptive indicators, but also incorporates subjective information: an important part of the analysis focuses on the relationship between reported views and attitudes on one side, and resources and living conditions on the other. In concrete terms, the survey’s core focus is on the domains of employment, economic resources, family life, community life, health, and housing and local environment. This report presents basic analyses of quality of life in these main domains, looking particularly at similarities and differences associated with country, gender, age and income.

This year’s survey finds that notable differences in terms of life satisfaction and attitudes towards the future underlined by the significant inequalities in living conditions and in daily life experiences for Europeans. In particular, well-being in the post-communist countries varies greatly between social and demographic groups. There are also marked disadvantages associated with low income, and some associations with demographics: for instance, older people in the 12 New Member States (NMS12) are more likely to report dissatisfaction with their situation. Standards of living and reported well-being of Europeans are closely related to the economy of the country in which they live. For four out of five Europeans, health is key to quality of life. Access to and quality of healthcare services are important factors for social protection; however, a substantial number of EU citizens report difficulty in accessing these services. The EQLS also assesses the quality of public services, environment and society – for example, measuring trust in other people and institutions.

The full report can be downloaded from the Eurofound website

The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2009

The past year has been a difficult period for the Travel & Tourism (T&T) sector. High oil prices, diminished tourism due to the international economic crisis, and concerns about terrorism are factors that have raised many challenges for the industry. Yet, despite these difficulties, the T&T sector remains a critical one for the world economy, still accounting for a significant share of global gross domestic product and employment, and providing an important opportunity for developing countries to move up the value chain toward the production of higher value-added services. Reflecting the current economic climate, the latest edition of the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness report, “Managing in a time of turbulence,” reflects the myriad of complexities facing the industry at this time, which must be overcome to ensure strong sectoral growth going into the future.

The report from the World Economic Forum contains detailed profiles for each of the 133 economies featured in the study, as well as an extensive section of data tables with global rankings covering over 70 indicators included in the TTCI (Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). This specially developed index measures the different regulatory and business-related issues that have been identified as levers for improving travel and tourism competitiveness in countries around the world.

This year’s report finds that Switzerland, Austria and Germany have the most attractive environments for developing the travel and tourism industry. Sweden, Switzerland and Denmark hold the top three spots in the environmental sustainability category. Characterized by environmental legislation that is both stringent and well enforced. These countries also have a specific focus on developing the tourism sector in a sustainable way and good overall environmental outcomes in terms of low levels of pollution and environmental damage.  Austria, Finland, France and the United Kingdom, also do well in this category. The category of Safety and security is also dominated by European countries, with Finland, Iceland and Norway taking the top three places. These countries do not suffer from high levels of crime and violence, and furthermore that are not overly concerned by the threat of terrorism, as is the case in many countries today. In addition, they benefit from police forces that are effective in providing protection from crime and violence, which is critical for the tourism industry.

The full report can be downloaded from the World Economic forum website

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: bareform

Development Co-operation Report 2009

The OECD's annual Development co-operation report provides key statistics and analysis on the latest trends in international aid. It shows how much aid donor country governments are giving, and to whom. How much goes to the poorest countries? How much goes to multilateral organisations like the United Nations? Which sectors get the most aid: economic infrastructure or social programmes? These statistics show that in 2007, OECD DAC members disbursed USD 103.5 billion, representing a drop from 0.31% of their combined gross national income in 2006 to 0.28% in 2007, or a fall of 8.5% in real terms.

The report argues that fragmentation is a serious obstacle to making aid more effective. Essentially this means that aid coming in too many small slices from too many donors is creating unnecessary and wasteful administrative costs and making it difficult to target aid where it is needed most.  The results of the survey show that aid is often spread thin: in total, 15 of the DAC members that replied to the survey have an aid concentration of less than 50%. This means that a large part of their assistance is distributed among a relatively high number of developing countries. The picture is even clearer when seen from the perspective of developing countries, which often have many donors giving relatively small amounts of money. Viet Nam, for instance, has 29 major donors, 17 of which account for just 10% of the aid it receives.

The report concludes that to make aid more efficient, donors need to rationalise and divide up their efforts. Better division of labour can help to concentrate the number of donors working in a specific developing country or sector, such as health or education, lowering transaction costs and facilitating co-ordinated efforts. It can also help to ensure adequate coverage of all developing countries, not just donor “favourites”. The Accra Forum saw extensive discussion of how effective division of labour can best be achieved, while ensuring that it does not lead to falls in overall assistance to any one country.

The full report is available to current London Business School staff, students and faculty from the SourceOECD database on the A-Z list of library databases via Portal.

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: _fLeMma

Cities Outlook 2009

The Cities Outlook 2009 is the second edition of the annual report from the Centre for Cities (an independent urban policy research unit). The report ranks the economic performance of 64 of the UK's largest cities and towns, drawing on data from the most recent releases from Government sources. This year's index includes an overall economic prosperity index, social deprivation index and built environment index. Last year the report predicted that times would get tougher for UK cities. The credit crunch has turned into a full-blown recession, and its impact is no longer confined to the financial and business services sector. We are now seeing falls in consumer and labour demand, high-profile firm closures, and extremely low levels of business confidence. The report argues that no city will escape the recession unscathed – though some will suffer less than others.

In last year’s report, it was argued that the North-South divide was oversimplified, with some high-performing areas in the North – and some under-performers in the South.  Economic conditions have changed since then, but the map of city performance remains as complex as ever. The immediate effects of the recession are being felt most heavily in Greater London, which has had a disproportionate share of jobs in financial services, construction and retail over the last decade. But it’s not necessarily ‘Grim Down South’, research by both the Centre for Cities and the Local Government Association confirms that once again, the true picture is more complicated. During 2009, it is expected that cities with higher concentrations of financial services jobs – such as London, Leeds, Edinburgh and Bristol – are likely to see more headline job losses. However, in the medium-term, cities with diverse business bases, high skill levels and traditions of entrepreneurship will be better placed to recover.

The full report is available from the Centre for Cities website

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: Smashcut

Global Gender Gap Report 2008

According to the overall ranking in the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Gender Gap Report, Norway is leading the world in closing the gender gap. Three other Nordic countries – Finland (2), Sweden (3) and Iceland (4) – also top the Gender Gap Index. Previously higher ranking countries such as Germany (11), United Kingdom (13) and Spain (17) slipped down the Index but stayed in the top 20, while Netherlands (9), Latvia (10), Sri Lanka (12) and France (15) made significant gains.  Featuring a total of 130 countries, this year’s Report provides an insight into the gaps between women and men in over 92% of the world’s population.

The index was introduced by the WEF in 2006, as a framework for capturing the magnitude and scope of these disparities and tracking their progress. It is used to benchmark national gender gaps on economic, political, education- and health-based criteria, and provides country rankings that allow for effective comparisons across regions and income groups, and over time. There are three basic concepts underlying the Index. First, it focuses on measuring gaps rather than levels. Second, it captures gaps in outcome variables rather than gaps in means or input variables. Third, it ranks countries according to gender equality rather than women’s empowerment. In this way, the rankings are designed to create greater awareness of the challenges posed by gender gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them. Secondly, the straightforward methodology and quantitative analysis behind the rankings is intended to serve as a base for designing effective measures for reducing gender gaps.

The report is available from the World Economic Forum website

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: dump9x

The social situation in the European Union

The Social Situation Report is an annual publication from the European Commission that aims to foster informed public debate on social policy by providing key data and prospective analysis. The latest report presents some key findings using the EU’s new tool for monitoring social trends, namely the EU-SILC (Statistics on Income and Living Conditions).  The survey looks at income inequality and how this is related to economic performance. It also looks at the distribution of people on low incomes across the EU as a whole. It is believed that by promoting equal opportunities in the European Union, greater social cohesion and economic performance can be achieved by releasing the unused potential of disadvantaged groups. The report is divided into two parts, the first exploring a special topic in depth, and the second consisting of statistical portraits covering the full range of social policy issues and a data annex.  This years report 2007 focuses on equal opportunities policies; in particular, it presents new data on the link between parents' education and occupation background and their children’s success. 

This 2007 Social Situation Report also examines the issue of access to essential goods and services, notably for households at risk of poverty, i.e. those households that have incomes significantly below the national median income. This information on poverty and social exclusion from a national perspective is complemented by an EU wide perspective using a common low-income threshold for all EU Member States. While social inclusion needs to be tackled primarily at national level, effective European cohesion policies have a key role to play in reducing the number of people who have to live on incomes far below the EU median. Monitoring the number of people on low incomes relative to a common EU-wide threshold should enable us to gauge the extent to which the EU is bringing real benefits to citizens across a Union still characterised by wide disparities.

Click here to read the report in full

Global Wage Report 2008 /2009

What have been the major trends in the level and the distribution of wages around the world since 1995? How have economic growth and globalization affected these wage trends? And what have been the roles of minimum wages and collective bargaining? These are some of the main questions addressed in this first Global Wage Report from the International labour Office (ILO)
 
This latest report from the ILO is divided into three parts. Part I provides a summary of the main trends in average wages and in the distribution of wages. It show that over the period1995–2007 average wages lagged behind the growth in GDP per capita, which the ILO interpret as an indication that increases in productivity have failed to translate fully into higher wages. Findings also indicate that that the recent period has seen a decline in the share of GDP distributed to wages, slow reductions in the wage gap between women and men and an overall increase in inequality among wage earners.

Part II focuses on minimum wages and collective bargaining, presenting statistics which confirm that there has been a revival of the minimum wage and document changes in the coverage of collective bargaining.
 
Part III of the report presents concrete policy recommendations and identifies key issues for further research. These policy recommendations have gained particular urgency due to the new context of weaker economic growth in 2008 and 2009. Higher prices, particularly of food, are likely to erode further the real wages of not only low paid workers but also those of many workers belonging to the middle class. In this context, the ILO recommends that governments implement active wage policies: they should promote bargaining among social partners to ensure that total income is shared equitably between workers and employers, and uprate whenever possible the minimum wages to protect the purchasing power of low-wage workers. Part III also outlines some possible themes for future issues of the Global Wage Report. These include unequal pay for men and women and differences in wages across particular occupations, as well as more detailed understanding of the links between wages and labour productivity.

The full report can be downloaded from the ILO website

Picture from Creative Commons: flickr: Seattle Municipal Archives

World Economic Situation and Prospects 2009

World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) is a joint product of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the five United Nations regional commissions. It provides an overview of recent global economic performance and short-term prospects for the world economy and of some key global economic policy and development issues. One of its purposes is to serve as a point of reference for discussions on economic, social and related issues taking place in various United Nations entities during the year.

The latest report focuses on the effects of the worst world financial crisis since the Great Depression. Previous WESP reports warned of the risks and all the factors analyzed in those reports have now played out and have pushed the world economy into recession. Growth in world gross product (WGP) is expected to slow to 1.0% in 2009, a sharp deceleration from the rate of 2.5% estimated for 2008 and well below the more robust pace in previous years. While most developed economies are expected to be in a deep recession, a vast majority of developing countries is experiencing a sharp reversal in the robust growth registered in the period of 2002-2007, indicating a significant setback in the progress made in poverty reduction for many developing countries over the past few years. The prospects for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are also deteriorating rapidly. Income per capita for the world as whole is expected to decline in 2009.

This latest report analyzes in detail the evolution of the global financial crisis during 2008 and the more fundamental factors that led to its build-up. It further assesses the impact on global economic activity, especially in developing countries.

The full report can be downloaded from the United Nations Development Policy and Analysis Division (DPAD) website

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: gothick_matt

The consumer experience 2008

This report from Ofcom analyses the overall experience consumers have had of the communications market in three areas: telecoms (fixed-line and mobile); internet (including broadband); and broadcasting (television and radio).  The following is a summary of some of the key themes and highlights from this year’s research.

Take-up trends:
There has been an increase in the take-up of broadband across all groups including the 65-74 and 75+;
The divide in digital TV ownership is closing between the highest and the lowest income groups;
Ownership of fixed lines continues to decline, leading to higher proportion of mobile-only homes.

Consumer awareness of choices:
There has been an increase in (prompted) awareness of fixed-line suppliers – although this remains lowest among older consumers;
Over 90% recognise multiple broadband suppliers when prompted, and over half spontaneously recalled two or more multichannel TV providers;
The internet is now the most trusted source of information for consumers about developments in communications markets.

Prices:
The average price spent per minute on mobiles is falling as more minutes are included in tariff plans, although overall household spend is rising as mobile use increases;
UK prices continue to compare favourably against international markets for fixed voice, mobile and broadband – the UK reports the lowest mobile prices across the countries compared, and the second lowest prices for broadband; and
UK prices for TV services are among the highest of the countries compared – driven partly by higher prices for premium TV services than in France, Germany and Italy.

The read the full report click here

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: Darren Hester

Measuring entrepreneurship: a digest of indicators

Over the past ten years, the OECD has addressed entrepreneurship issues in various analyses and reports. In 2005, the Kauffman Foundation provided the OECD with the financial support necessary for a feasibility study to explore what could be done to improve entrepreneurship data. Building on this the OECD launched the Entrepreneurship Indicators Programme (EIP) in 2006 to build internationally comparable statistics on entrepreneurship and its determinants. Last year Eurostat joined forces to create a joint OECD-Eurostat EIP, and work began with the development of standard definitions and concepts as a basis for the collection of empirical data. The result is the OECD-Eurostat Entrepreneurship Indicators Programme.  This report presents the results of the first round of empirical data collected under the EIP.

At present data is drawn from 15 European countries, the US, Canada and New Zealand. The results show that in 2005 the number of new businesses as a proportion of all companies – the “birth rate” - was highest in Romania, Estonia, Lithuania and the Slovak Republic. Strong growth and economic restructuring related to European Union adhesion is likely to have been the key factor. The report also analyses high growth firms. It finds a large share of new businesses have difficulties achieving higher growth after their first year. Where it is achieved, faster growth more frequently takes the form of higher turnover rather than more jobs. At less than 2% of all companies, the number of young firms with fast-growing turnover (known as “gazelle” firms), nevertheless remains small in the countries surveyed. Lithuania, Latvia and Bulgaria are exceptions, however. The report shows young fast-growing manufacturing firms represented more than 3% of all companies in these countries in 2005.

Click here to read the full report

World of work report 2008: income inequalities in the age of financial globalization

This new report, produced by the ILO’s International Institute for Labour Studies is a comprehensive study of global income inequalities, examining wages and growth in more than 70 developed and developing countries.  Since 2007, the world of work has been hit by a number of global developments, in particular financial turmoil, rising food prices and a shortage of raw materials. This has brought an end to the rapid growth and strong employment performance seen by the world economy almost uninterruptedly since the mid-1990s.

Since the early 1990s global employment has risen by 30% and the income gap between richer and poorer households has significantly increased. Between 1990 and 2005, approximately two thirds of the countries experienced an increase in income inequality (as measured by changes in the Gini index). The incomes of richer households have increased relative to those of poorer households. During the same period, the income gap between the top and bottom 10% of wage earners increased in 70% of the countries surveyed.

This gap in income inequality is also widening between company executives and the average employee. For example, in the United States in 2007, the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the 15 largest companies earned 500 times more than the average worker. This is up from 360 times more in 2003. Even in Hong Kong (China) and South Africa where executives are paid much less than their United States’ counterparts, CEO pay still represents 160 and 104 times, respectively, the wages of the average worker.

The report notes that whilst a certain degree of income inequality is useful in rewarding effort, talent and innovation, huge differences can be counter-productive and damaging for most economies. It goes on to call for longer term action to put the global economy on a more balanced track, including promotion of the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda to link economic, labour and social policies to boost employment and improve incomes and income distribution.

The full report can be downloaded for free from the ILO website

Food: from farm to fork statistics

This pocketbook provides statistical information on how the food chain in Europe. The data traces the journey of food from the farm to the fork from primary agricultural production, through food processing, wholesale and retail distribution, ending with food consumption. The data is principally drawn from the ‘farm to fork database’ of the statistical office of the European Communities (EUROSTAT).

Information about primary agricultural production includes basic information on the number and types of farm holding and the area of land used for various types of agriculture. It also presents information on intermediate inputs within the production process, for example, providing details on fertilizers, plant protection products or feed.  The outputs of primary agricultural production include harvested crops, numbers of animals ready for slaughter (generally off -farm) and milk collected.

The next stage in the food chain involves the processing of agricultural output: as cereals, vegetables, fruit, milk, meat or fish are transformed into food products that are more familiar to consumers. This can be a relatively simple operation of grading and then preserving, tinning or freezing foods, or may involve more elaborate transformations, such as the production of ready-to-eat meals. The last step of the chain for most food and drink are distribution channels in the form of wholesalers and retailers, or alternatively into restaurants, cafes and bars. The publication finishes with a look at consumer-related issues such as price, quality and choice of foods available in shops, markets and other retail outlets, as well as food safety, organic food, and genetically-modified food.

Click here to read the full report

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: alles-schlumpf

Housing in England 2006/07

This report is based on information taken from the annual Survey of English Housing (SEH) carried out earlier in the year by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government. The SEH is a continuous survey which started in April 1993. It provides key housing data on tenure, owner occupation and the social rented sector, and is a major source of information about the private rented sector. The report also contains some analysis of housing-related data from the Labour Force Survey and the Family resources survey

Key findings from the report include:

• Owner occupation continues to be the most common housing tenure in England. In 2007 there were 14.7 million (70%) owner-occupiers, 3.8 million (18%) social renters and 2.7 million (13%) private renters


• Renting is more prevalent in London than in any other region of England: 24% of London households are social renters, 20% are private renters, 56% are owner occupiers


• The proportion of younger householders (aged 25-29) who are in private rented accommodation has nearly doubled over the past 14 years, from 19% in 1993 to 36% in 2007   


• Regionally, the highest rate of overcrowding (6.6%) is in London and the lowest (1.5%) is in the South West.


• The number of second homes abroad has more than doubled over the past ten years, from 115,000 in 1996/97 to 248,000 in 2006/07. Over the same period the number of second homes in England has risen by about 20 per cent to 241,000

Click here to download the full report

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: Dominic's pics

Transnational Corporations and the Infrastructure Challenge

The 18th edition of the World investment report has just been published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The annual report analyses the latest trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) and this year has a special focus on the role of transnational corporations (TNCs) in infrastructure development. 

Infrastructure especially electricity, telecommunications, transport, and water are important for all economies, as they provide goods and services crucial for competitiveness. Affordable electricity and drinking water are also important for raising living standards. Many low-income countries need huge investments to improve infrastructure but lack the domestic resources to fund them. Investments from TNCs, along with other forms of TNC involvement, are one way of addressing the shortfall.

WIR08 includes the latest data on FDI and traces global and regional trends in FDI and in international production by TNCs. Global FDI inflows continued to rise in 2007 and reached a new record despite the onset of the financial and credit crisis. All the three major groups of economies - developed countries, developing countries, and the transition economies of South-East Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) - and virtually all regions saw continued growth in FDI. The crisis seems to have affected FDI flows in 2008, however, and TNCs recently appear to have become more cautious in their investment plans.

The report can be downloaded from the UNCTAD website

The 2008 World investment report can be found in the journals collection located in the library basement

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: OrangeSmell

Tourism statistics pocketbook

This Pocketbook from Eurostat provides a wide range of statistics relating to tourism in Europe, covering the period 2000 to 2006. The data covers both the supply of collective tourist accommodation in Europe, e.g. the available capacity in hotels and other types of collective accommodation, plus the tourist flows they receive. It also illustrates the travel behaviour of Europeans, providing information on their domestic and outbound trips. The pocketbook is divided into two sections. Part one contains the general information needed to evaluate the importance of the tourism sector in relation to the economy as a whole. The second part presents country specific data on tourism, covering both domestic and outbound tourism and providing country profiles for 34 countries.

The pocketbook can be downloaded from the Eurostat website

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: gerry balding

Debt in the UK

Debt in the UK is now a chronic rather than an acute problem according to the latest findings from The CCCS (Consumer Credit Counselling Service) statistical yearbook. The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) is a registered charity that provides advice and support services to people in debt. Data obtained from their services show that average outstanding debt fell in 2007 across all categories irrespective of age, sex or income with the exception of those within the £50,000 to £59,999 income group who have demonstrated a slight increase in their outstanding debt over the last year. However, the data does show that CCCS clients are getting older and poorer; for the first time, more than half (52%) were over 40 compared with 44% in 2005. Three quarters live in households with take home pay of less than £20k, and almost one third earn less than £10k. Clients over 60 have the highest levels of debt, averaging £29,642. In contrast debt levels are dropping fastest for the under-25s; the average debt is now under £10,000 (£9,656), a third less than two years ago (£15,079 in 2005).

This yearbook includes a new section focusing on the pressures on household income and the effect on people's capacity to repay their debts. It is clear from this analysis that the main pressure on clients’ income, whatever their earnings capacity, is from the increases in the cost of utilities. Expenditure on utilities has increased year-on-year for all clients over the last four years. This disproportionately hits those under the poverty line, where utilities account for 23 percent of all expenditure.

However findings include:

• Those classified as higher earners spend 44% of their income on housing costs, the highest proportion of any of the income groups.
• In 2007 for the first time clients owed more on credit cards than personal loans
• Women are more likely to have home credit, store card and catalogue debt than men
• Single males are more likely to access high-street lending such as credit cards, overdrafts and personal loans
• Single females are more likely to use ‘higher rate’ lending such as home credit, store cards and catalogues.

To read the report in full click here

The age of the grandad-olescent

According to a recent survey by pensions firm Aegon the nature of retirement has fundamentally changed. The majority of people intend to continue working in some capacity past their normal retirement age. This choice is not just because of financial constraints, many people want to continue working because they either don’t feel ready to retire or because they enjoy working. Improved health and increasing life expectancy mean that many reaching retirement age do not feel or see themselves as ‘old’, and consequently people’s attitudes towards when and how they retire have changed. Recent data from the Office of National Statistics supports this view as those employed past pensionable age become the fastest growing group in the labour market. Along side this, last year Age Concern brought a test case in the High Court challenging mandatory retirement ages in the UK. The case was referred to the European Court of Justice and a decision is expected in late 2008.

Some of the findings from the survey of 2,140 people, aged between 50 and 65 include:

• 61% expect to either carry on working in some capacity after they reach retirement age or pursue further education or charity work.
• 37% of respondents say they will receive an income of less than £10,000 a year in retirement. 13% say they will receive an income of between £10,000 and £20,000 in retirement. Only 8% say they will receive an income greater than £20,000 in retirement.
• 33% of 50–65 year olds have no savings or investments over and above their pension provision
• 20% say they have no pension provision

The findings of the AEGON research highlight the importance of developing more innovative and flexible retirement solutions. The pensions industry and the Government must keep pace with the changing face of retirement to complement the lifestyles of this new generation of ‘grandad-olescents'.

Click here to read the report in full

Pay developments 2007

This annual report from the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO), provides a broad indication of trends in pay increases over 2006 and 2007 across the current 27 EU Member States (EU27) and Norway. It looks at the following areas: collectively-agreed pay rises across the economy as a whole and in three selected sectors; national minimum wage increases and current rates; gender pay differentials; and average increases in earnings. Findings show average collectively-agreed nominal wage increases across the EU rose from 5.6% in 2006 to 7% in 2007. However, taking into account rising inflation, the rate of real increase actually fell from 2.7% in 2006 to 2.3% in 2007. During this period, differences between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ EU Member States, in terms of both pay trends and the level of pay increases, persisted and indeed widened.

The gender wage gap averaged 15.9% across the EU27, down from the 16.2% recorded as part of the 2006 pay update. Year-on-year upward and downward variations seem to be a feature of gender pay statistics, and the narrowing of the wage gap is unlikely to be significant over such a short period of time, while some variations in the figures are explained by changes in the source or nature of the data used (the values for Belgium and Malta, for example, are very different than the rates of previous years). However, the gap recorded as part of this review has been on a downward trend since 2005, when it stood at 17.5% (the 2006 figure was 17.3%), which may be firmer evidence of a narrowing of the average wage gap.

To read the report in full click here

 

The Least developed countries report 2008

There are currently fifty countries that make up the UN’s “Least Developed Countries” list (LDCs). Criteria for inclusion are based on the following: a “low-income” criterion; a “human assets” criterion and an “economic vulnerability” criterion. A country will qualify to be added to the list if it meets the three criteria mentioned and does not have a population greater than 75 million. A country will normally qualify for graduation from LDC status if it has met graduation thresholds under at least two of the three criteria in at least two consecutive reviews of the list.

This years report argues that although least developed countries are achieving record rates of economic expansion, growth is failing to trickle down into significantly improved well-being for the majority of their populations. These countries also remain vulnerable to a growth slow-down as they are still characterized by low levels of domestic resource mobilization and investment, weak manufacturing industries, high levels of commodity dependence, weak export upgrading, rising food and oil import bills and growing trade deficits. Given this macroeconomic scenario and the pervasive poverty prevailing in LDCs, these countries have been hit very hard by soaring international food prices. In many cases the domestic price of some food staples has doubled. This is compressing the budget of poor families, which spend 50 – 80% of their income on food. Therefore, the food crisis is likely to slow down, or worse, reverse the limited progress achieved so far towards reducing poverty and malnutrition in LDCs.

The report goes on to argue that if these countries stand any chance of achieving a more sustainable and inclusive type of economic growth and reduction of material deprivation they must adopt new types of development strategies that are not only nationally formulated and owned but also supported by effective development aid and development-friendly international regimes for trade, investment and technology. 

The report is available in full from the UNCTAD website. Click here to download the report [PDF 1719Kb]

 

Tourism in Europe: does age matter?

This publication from Eurostat provides a snapshot of the travel behaviour of specific age groups from EU Member States during 2006. The study looks at four different age groups: 15–24; 25-44; 45-64; 64+. On average 213 million Europeans made at least one holiday trip of four nights or more during 2006. Of these, around 80 million tourists were from the age group 25-44, compared with only 41% of the population aged 65+. This is obviously a reflection of the fact that this age group also makes up the highest proportion of the total population.

In terms of holiday destinations more than 6 out of 10 holiday trips are spent within their own country, for the oldest age group more than 7 out of 10 trips are domestic trips. In total European tourists made 901 million trips, half of which were short trips lasting from one to three nights. The oldest age group (65+) make the longest trips on average in the EU, spending 11.7 nights away on each trip.

It can be assumed that given the prevailing demographic trend, travel behaviour within these age groups will change within the coming decades. For example factors such as improving health conditions are expected to see an increase in the population of over 64s reach 30% by the year 2060. As a consequence, the proportion of older tourists will also grow.

To read the report in full click here

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: ILMV

European economic statistics

Eurostat produce a number of statistical publications covering different areas of the European economy. However, up until now there has not been a single publication that provides an overall picture of the structure and development of the European economy. To redress this gap, Eurostat have released a new publication called "European economic statistics". This annual title provides a wide-ranging overview of economic developments in the EU, its Member States and selected partner countries. It covers key economic indicators available at Eurostat, including national accounts, government finances, balance of payments, foreign trade, prices, monetary and financial accounts, and the labour market. In addition, editorial and methodological sections provide commentary on topical issues and on the data presented. The statistical annex includes data covering the above mentioned areas.

European economic statistics can be downloaded from the Eurostat website

Europe in figures 2008

Eurostat have just released the 2008 edition of their annual publication Europe in figures. It provides a comprehensive selection of statistical data on Europe and includes some indicators for other countries such as candidate countries, members of EFTA, Japan and the USA. The yearbook features data on the following areas: the economy; education; health; living conditions and welfare; the labour market; industry and services; agriculture, forestry and fisheries; international trade, transport, the environment, energy, science and technology and European regions.

This year’s edition’s focuses on the demographic challenges for Europe of an ageing society. Eurostat’s long-term demographic projections have identified three factor at the heart of Europe’s ageing society: low fertility rates, extended life expectancy, and a baby-boom generation that is reaching retirement age. Higher old age dependency ratios are likely to affect the balance between government receipts and expenditure, with healthcare and long-term care (for example, of the frail and very old) being two expenditure categories which are likely to increase. As a result, the EU will, in the coming decades, face a number of significant challenges, which will need to be taken into account within a variety of different policy areas.

This publication can be freely downloaded from the Eurostat website

Working conditions of an ageing workforce

Over the last decade, the issue of Europe’s ageing population has emerged as a central priority for policy makers in the EU. This report by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions highlights four factors which are shaping the age structure of Europe’s workforce: ensuring career and employment security; maintaining and promoting the health and well-being of workers; developing skills and competencies; and reconciling working and non-working life. The findings are based on data from the fourth European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS), which was carried out across 31 countries in Europe, including the 27 EU Member States in 2005. The findings show that improving working conditions leads to better job sustainability over the lifecycle, which in turn can prevent early exit from the labour market and encourage stronger participation rates among older workers.

The read the report in full click here

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: mikewade

Regional statistics 2008

Regional trends is an annual publication from the Office for National Statistics that provides a unique description of the regions and countries of the UK. It covers a wide range of demographic, social, industrial and economic statistics, covering most aspects of life. Highlights from this year’s edition include:

• People in London, walked the furthest and cycled the furthest in 2005/06 covering an average distance of 230 miles and 50 miles respectively. Cycling distance has also increased by 43% in London since 2003/04 whereas it has decreased by 21% in the West Midlands.
  
• The number of licensed cars in Great Britain grew steadily across the ten-year period 1996 to 2006 to just under 28 million. During this time, London had only a 9% increase, the smallest amongst the English regions, while the North East and East Midlands had the largest increases with 30%. The average increase for England was 24%
• Median gross weekly full-time earnings for men in London reached £596 in April 2007, but their female counterparts earned £90 per week less at £506. In other areas of the UK earnings for both men and women were lower – Northern Ireland had the lowest figure for men at £425 per week, while £345 in the North East was the lowest for women.

To read the report in full click here

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: anthonygrimley

Social trends - 2008

Social trends is an annual publication from the Office for National Statistics which brings together statistics from a wide range of government departments and other organisations, to present an up-to-date picture of life in the UK. The underlying theme of this year’s Social trends is that of societal well-being. Finding a way of measuring how society is doing beyond a purely economic assessment is one of the current analytical priorities of the ONS. GDP and the national accounts were never designed to measure the wider aspects of societal well-being. But data currently used in Social trends, such as access to healthcare, education and housing could provide a meaningful measure of our quality of life here in the UK. The only problem is what is of value to an individual or group within society can differ greatly. This is why the ONS measure what they call objective well-being as opposed to subjective well-being. Objective well-being refers to the material and social circumstances believed to either help or hinder an individual’s or community’s sense of well-being. Subjective well-being refers to an individual’s self-assessment of their own well-being.

To read the report in full click here

Forecasts for the UK economy: a comparison of independent forecasts

Forecasts for the UK Economy is produced monthly by HM Treasury. It provides a summary of published material reflecting the views of a range of forecasting organisations.

The latest  produced on 12th March contains a selection of 22 forecasts including: Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS form the city and non-city forecasts include: IMF, OECD, EIU, CEBR and Moody's Economy. It offers consensus short term forecasts for the UK plus the institution's individual figures.

Click here to access report

Key figures on Europe - 2007/08

Key figures on Europe is an annual publication from Eurostat that provides a statistical overview of the European Union. It presents a balanced set of key indicators, covering a broad cross-section of information about the European Union total (EU-27), the Euro area and the Member States, and (when available) for the candidate countries, the EFTA countries, Japan and the United States. The publication is divided into nine chapters covering the following areas: economy and finance; population and social conditions; industry, trade and services; agriculture, forestry and fisheries; international trade; transport; environment and energy; science and technology; and regional statistics.

The publication can be freely downloaded from the Eurostat website.

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: Muddy LaBoue

24th British Social Attitudes Survey

The British Social Attitudes Survey has been conducted by the National Centre for Social Research, an independent non-profit research institute, since 1983. Each year around 3,300 adults are randomly selected to give their views on an extensive range of topics such as housing, work, transport, government spending and religion. In addition, new topics are continually added to reflect policy changes and current affairs, but all questions are designed with a view to repeating them periodically to chart changes over time. The 24th survey is now available and covers the following topics:

New families?; Cohabitation and the law; Who does the housework?; National identity in England and Scotland; Is there still a public service ethos? Prejudice and the workplace; Car use and climate change; Where have all the readers gone? Popular newspapers and Britain's political health; What makes a good citizen?; The role of government: public values and party politics; Trends in sympathy for the poor.

The library holds the latest 10 years of the survey, which can be found in the reference collection located on the first floor of the library.

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: Ben Haldenby

Family spending 2007

  The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has just released the 2007 Family spending report. This provides the latest information taken from the Expenditure and Food survey (EFS) for 2006. The EFS is an amalgamation of the Family Expenditure and National Food Surveys (FES and NFS). Both surveys were established in the 1950s to chart the changes and patterns in Britain’s spending and food consumption. This special edition of Family spending celebrates its fiftieth year providing a look back at the changes over this period. In 1957, the vast proportion of weekly expenditure went on food and non-alcoholic drinks. Today, housing now accounts for the highest proportion of weekly household expenditure.

This report is available for download from the ONS website

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: ralphbijker

European business - facts and figures - 2007 edition

 This Eurostat publication provides a comprehensive overview of the structure, development and characteristics of European business and its different activities. Divided into 23 main sections, the first chapter presents a general overview of the EU-27’s business economy. This is followed by sector analysis of the following areas: manufacturing; mining, energy, water & recycling; financial services; non-financial services; construction. Data is included from a wide selection of statistical sources covering: production and employment; country specialisation and regional distribution; cost structure, productivity and profitability; the importance of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs); and external trade. 

 

The publication can be freely downloaded from the Eurostat website.