Category Archives: Unemployment

Spain rekindles a radical idea: a Europe-wide minimum income

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Podemos leader enlists Portugal and Italy to lobby for policy as depression looms for coronavirus-ravaged southern Europe

It’s been proposed, probed and pushed to the margins of the European Union for more than two decades. Now, as Europe reels from tens of thousands of coronavirus deaths and millions of lost jobs in the worst recession for generations, ministers from Spain, Italy and Portugal say the time has come to revive a radical idea: a pan-EU minimum income.

“This is the moment for debates about social protection,” Pablo Iglesias, Spain’s deputy prime minister for social rights and leader of Podemos, told the Guardian. “Anyone who finds themselves in a vulnerable situation should have access to protection mechanisms that allow them to fill their fridge and care for their family.” 

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‘Millions hang by a thread’: extreme global hunger compounded by Covid-19

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Coronavirus ‘potentially catastrophic’ for nations already suffering food insecurity caused by famine, migration and unemployment

The warning from the World Food Programme (WFP) that an extra 265 million people could be pushed into acute food insecurity by Covid-19, almost doubling last year’s total, is based on a complex combination of factors.

WFP’s latest warning underlines the increasing concern among experts in the field that for many the biggest impact will not be the disease, but the hunger hanging off its coat tails.

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‘We can’t go back to normal’: how will coronavirus change the world?

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Times of upheaval are always times of radical change. Some believe the pandemic is a once-in-a-generation chance to remake society and build a better future. Others fear it may only make existing injustices worse. By Peter C Baker

Everything feels new, unbelievable, overwhelming. At the same time, it feels as if we’ve walked into an old recurring dream. In a way, we have. We’ve seen it before, on TV and in blockbusters. We knew roughly what it would be like, and somehow this makes the encounter not less strange, but more so.

Every day brings news of developments that, as recently as February, would have felt impossible – the work of years, not mere days. We refresh the news not because of a civic sense that following the news is important, but because so much may have happened since the last refresh. These developments are coming so fast that it’s hard to remember just how radical they are.

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UK wage growth hits 11-year high as self-employment total surges – business live

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British worker are getting the biggest pay rises in a decade, as jobless rate remains at 44-year low. But the market may be cooling....

New @ONS stats show that:

- the employment level is at a record high
- there are 3.7m more people in work than in 2010
- wages have grown faster than inflation for almost a year
- female unemployment has fallen to a new record low of 3.6% pic.twitter.com/V9C5NMXW9l

Andy Bruce of Reuters has also spotted that rising self-employment is making up for a drop in the number of employed workers.

Cause for concern?

That there was any employment growth at all in 3 months to May is down to a hefty increase in self-employment.

Employee jobs declined at fastest rate since 2011. pic.twitter.com/cg05f02Az2

Along these lines, looks clear that vacancies have peaked already. pic.twitter.com/t06diHVMRn

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New rules for job seekers prompt warning about another ‘robodebt debacle’

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Mutual obligation overhaul welcomed but government urged not to rely on ‘automated compliance’

The government’s proposed changes to how job seekers are made to look for work while receiving welfare have been mostly welcomed by stakeholders – although it’s also been warned against creating another “robodebt” scenario through an overreliance on automation.

Kelly O’Dwyer announced the biggest overhaul in mutual obligation requirements for 20 years on Wednesday, with the government to free job seekers from having to apply for 20 positions a month, as well as allowing job hunters to look for work online.

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