UK
(May 2013) The UK economy will continue to grow throughout this year, with GDP (gross domestic product) growth expected to pick up in 2014. But while recent economic data have been more promising, clear challenges remain both at home and abroad, the UK’s leading business group warned.
(April 2013) The UK economy will grow less than previously forecast in 2013 and further bond purchases by the Bank of England are unlikely to help.
(March 2013) The UK’s current account deficit rose to £57.7bn - - 3.7% of GDP (gross domestic product - - in 2012, according to Office for National Statistics data released on Wednesday. The deficit has not accounted for such a large share of GDP since 1989.
(March 2013) George Osborne, UK chancellor of the exchequer, this week cut the official growth forecast in half, but insisted the UK would avoid a "triple dip" recession. In his Budget 2013 speech, he said the growth forecast in 2013 from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility would be 0.6% - - half the 1.2% that was predicted four months ago in the autumn statement.
(February 2013) UK investment as a share of GDP (gross domestic product) has historically been lower than in France and Germany. This largely accounts for the country’s lower GDP per hour worked. Moreover, the make-up of UK investment is heavily skewed towards property and buildings, rather than equipment, innovation and new technologies.
(February 2013) The UK economy is set for a recovery according to the Bank of England. However, output is still below its level five years ago, and as there has not been a 'normal' recession, neither will there be a normal recovery. The economy faces big challenges stemming from an abrupt and substantial reassessment of future economic prospects triggered by the financial crisis.
(January 2013) The UK has experienced the fastest rise in youth unemployment of any country in the G-8 (Group of Eight) since the start of the recession and now has the third worst levels in the OECD.
(January 2013) Official data issued on Wednesday showed the number of people in work in the UK rose to almost 30m between September and November, up by more than half am on a year earlier and the highest figure since records began in 1971. At the same time, unemployment fell for the 10th consecutive quarter to just under 2.5m, while the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance also declined. However, the squeeze on pay packets continued the 'jobs without growth' economy.
(January 2013) UK banks and other finance firms are forecast to lose another 18,000 jobs in the first quarter of 2013 after cutting 25,000 in the last quarter. Total job losses in the sector since the fourth quarter of 2008, when the global financial crisis began will total 132,000. Employment in the sector peaked at 1.1m in the third quarter of 2008. Finance jobs in City of London down more than a quarter since 2007.
(January 2013) It is claimed that more than 95% of technologies developed in universities never make it to market, leaving publicly or philanthropy-funded research uncommercialised. Often, given that academic research can be so ahead of its time, the commercial relevance of these technologies isn't immediately obvious. Crowdsourcing ideas for real-world applications from the global science and technology community is seen as one route to increasing the chances of commercialisation, with the ultimate goal to create new products and new companies that will drive job creation around these innovative discoveries. However, while crowdsourcing may help, a lack of ideas is far from the only reason why a university patent might never get licensed or make it to the market.
