[Tubby Isaacs]

May be that some lower productivity jobs have been lost with the increase in employers NI and the minimum wage. The labour market should be settling down now. See if the rise is sustained.

I noted before that lots of people thought that these jobs shouldn't even have existed because the wage was too low and the tax payer was picking up costs of tax credits. I'm not sure about that argument- some jobs are genuinely low productivity, particularly in areas where there's not much money about. That's not really anybody's fault in lots of cases (poor paying jobs in eg Central London are a different matter). But anyhow, it seems that some of these jobs don't exist any longer, but I'm sure lots of the complainers aren't any happier than before.

We'll have to see if unemployment starts to fall. Might turn out that the changes were an economic masterstroke.

[The Weeping Angel]

Some changes of tax treatment, and restrictions on some of the more expensive models, apparently. My guess is that, in the words of Arthur Daley when buying a second car, "these fall out of bed price wise" rather rapidly. But I don't know much about the scheme, admittedly.

Either way, it's kicked off a hornet's nest.

“Life costs more if you are disabled. Energy and day-to-day living costs remain stubbornly high across the board. The government shouldn’t be looking to ramp up costs on disabled people. They could leave more disabled people isolated, and less able to get into work.”

Emma Vogelmann, the co-chief executive of the disability group Transport for All, said: “As disabled people we often find public transport is unusable – broken pavements, nonexistent bus routes, and packed stations we can’t navigate. A Motability car changes that – it allows us to work, shop, and do the school run. Scaling back the scheme would lock disabled people away from daily life. Does the chancellor want to take away our freedom?”

[Boiler]

Stuff like that would please the berks that want "Motability" emblazoned on the side of such cars so they know who to hate.

[The Weeping Angel]

Stupid Red Tory government wanting to create 40,000 clean energy jobs.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... MP=bsky_gu

Plumbers, electricians and welders will be in huge demand as part of a national plan to train people for an extra 400,000 green jobs in the next five years, Ed Miliband has said.

The energy secretary unveiled a scheme to double the number of people working in green industries by 2030, with a particular focus on training those coming from fossil fuel jobs, school leavers, the unemployed, veterans and ex-offenders.

He said the plan would involve measures to ensure companies receiving public grants and contracts need to create good jobs across the clean energy sector. It would also promote greater trade union recognition and collective bargaining in the clean energy sector, including when jobs are offshore.

Miliband’s announcement was welcomed by unions, from Unite to the GMB, which have long been pushing for a more detailed plan for how people will switch from fossil fuel industries to those in clean energy in the future.

As part of the plan, 31 skilled trades will be designated as priorities for recruitment and training, with plumbers, heating and ventilation installers at the top of the list, with an additional 8,000 to 10,000 needed by 2030. Carpenters, electricians and welders are the next highest in demand on the list, with 4,000 to 8,500 extra of each required.

Miliband said the national plan “answers a key question about where the good jobs of the future will come from”.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Fucking A!

[Andy McDandy]

"Dole scum, lefty students, career criminals and people from traditionally Labour areas given jobs bribe", as the Mail might report it, before asking where are the jobs for the good people of Clacton.