Despite many closures of banks and shops on the high street the unemployment level in the UK is the lowest it has been for 40 years. Recent wins on employment terms and conditions by Hermes Drivers, is showing a gradual movement in regularizing the “gig” economy by mirroring the terms offered in the mainstream economy, whether zero hours contracts come to an end we will have to wait and see but progress is being made.
After the judgement on Hermes, which gives drivers holiday pay and sick pay, many other gig economy employees are likely to win the chance of improved conditions now this new precedent for Hermes Drivers has been set by the court – making Deliveroo; Uber Eats and Just Eat workers likely to have improved terms and conditions into the future, although (of course) delivery costs will inevitably have to rise. This judgement is the first sign that fairness in the work place is making a fight back and is to be welcomed. The drop in the value of Sterling as a result of the Brexit uncertainty and investors taking fright, has oddly been a tonic for exports, the lower pounds has made UK exports cheaper and the UK continues to see its exports boom to their highest level since 2008.
Although a worrying statistic is the reduction of investment from external sources, which has seen a 2/3 fall in the latest statistics – undoubtedly this has been caused by the Brexit uncertainty, but if stability returns to the economy we may well bounce back. Store closings are at a rate of around 6,000 per year (year on year) so there is a huge change taking place on our high streets, however, new ideas from the private sector and local councils to breathe new life into high streets are being developed across the country and huge pressure is now on local councils to reduce rates and parking charges to encourage people to visit their high streets and not allow the on-line revolution destroy these valuable assets. Despite the store closures unemployment is still not rising and the Bank of England has said salary increases are growing fast at around 3.8% p.a.
urther good news is that the Government has announced “the end” to austerity, which was a policy designed to better match the country’s outgoings with the income of the nation, seeking to avoid year on year overspending which had become a feature of both political parties. Last year saw the first signs that the country was balancing its expenditure with income and reducing borrowing. In 2019 the borrowing level is ¼ lower than this time last year, the UK government’s budget deficit was better than expected in the latest financial year, according to figures published on Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics.
The headline level of borrowing was £42.6bn in the 12 months to the end of March, down from £46.2bn the previous year, beating official forecasts. So, whilst we are all concerned about the future, the underlying statistics in the economy are still robust and as Germany enters a technical recession, the UK is still in a growth zone predicted to be around 1.6% by the end of 2019.
Due to the overwhelming doom and gloom surrounding Brexit it is easy to imagine that things are tragically worse than they really are, but the figures simply don’t back up that negative impression. Hopefully the news will continue to remain positive and if the Brexit impasse can be resolved soon, the future might actually look bright.
Julia Constable – Business Editor