Followers of this blog will know of my fondness for economics. Sadly, my education in economics wasn’t sufficient to make me in any way authoritative. Although I do understand the basics, having treasured my copy of Economics by Paul Samuelson.
Back to the point. I do find it confusing that while unemployment continues to fall; new jobs in manufacturing industry are being created, reversing a change in recent decades; billions of £’s have been pumped into the UK economy through quantitative easing; and yet our GDP is falling.
My fondest wish is that I could share an evening meal with Gillian Tett, US managing editor of the Financial Times, where she could unravel the mysteries of modern-day economic thinking.
Mustn’t look to the negative. There are some recent good news stories around about new jobs in manufacturing. Here are a few,
- Jaguar Land Rover to create 1,100 manufacturing jobs in the Midlands.
- Hitachi train deal to create 730 jobs in Newton Aycliffe, plus 200 in construction.
- GlaxoSmithKline to create 1,000 jobs, including a new factory in Cumbria.
- Vince Cable, Business Secretary, announced yesterday that “Strong inward investment into the UK economy created or secured more than 112,000 jobs in 2011/12, a rise of 19 per cent on the preceding year”.
- AugustaWestland to create 3,000 jobs in Yeovil to build new helicopter.
- Kawawsaki Precison Machinery creates up to 100 new jobs in Plymouth.
- BMW’s £250m Investment Protects UK Mini Jobs
- Huntsman creates 90 jobs at its plant in Hartlepool.
On my upcoming holiday, I’ll take time to ponder on the reasons for my confusion. Possibly stimulated, and delayed by wine and coffee.
Easy! Either the statistics are wrong, or our efficiency is dropping. Of course, GDP is a blunt instrument. A mega environmental disaster costing billions to rectify goes on the positive side of the GDP balance sheet.
By: mikethebrown on July 26, 2012
at 1:14 pm