Macroeconomics: UK economy, IB Economics

Bad news for the local economy, with the news that although other car firms have started to recover and employment levels are nearly back to normal, that's not the case at Jaguar Land Rover.

This article looks at why that might be, not least a significant downturn in production, although the firm is considering whether or not it is going to keep workers on, in the hope of getting some £20m from the job retention bonus. 

However, the longer term prospects for the company don't look great. 

The end of the Job Retentions Scheme is nigh, but this Newsnight clip looks at possible successor schemes, with reference to the German scheme of wage subsidies as well as other schemes to support employment in the UK.

The Guardian's critical coverage of the Summer Statement, illustrated with a lovely example of labour market flexibility, which highlights the criticisms of yesterday's job retention bonus. 

There are a number of people who think that yesterday represented a sticking plaster, and that it won't allow the UK economy to avoid mass unemployment further down the line.  

An interesting footnote to the Chancellor's so-called Winter Plan, with the Resolution Foundation suggesting that the failure to extend the existing £20 supplement to tax credits and Universal Credit to the poorest will see them worse off.

Just remember, "We're All in This Together" will be trumpeted time and time again, but Torsten Bell, the head of the Resolution Foundation reckons that this would have been more true had the government scrapped the job retention bonus and spent this money supporting the most vulnerable.

Yesterday it emerged that the chief civil servant at HMRC wrote to the Chancellor, concerned about two aspects of his Summer Statement. In both cases, he wonders whether the Job Retention Bonus and the scheme promoting discounted restaurant meals represented value for money. Expect the National Audit Office to weigh in at some point.

And I can see his point: in the former case, lots of firms, with no threat of bankruptcy, are simply going to re-employ furloughed staff and get ex gratia payments of £1,000, whereas other firms are not going to receive equivalent help, and the sum involved is too small to help those genuinely at risk of going under.

In the second case, I have to say that I feel uneasy about subsidising eating out when there are a growing number of people unable to afford to 'eat in'. Surely, it would be more worthwhile spending the proposed £0.5bn on feeding them, than subsidising middle-class dining?

There's criticism of the government's Job Retention Bonus of £1,000 per worker for keeping workers on for three months when the furloughing scheme ends. 

The CBI argue that it's tinkering about the margins - and won't offer sufficient support for businesses, and businesses themselves worry about how easy it will be to access. It seems that you can't please all of the people all of the time.