Business News Round Up (20/03/2023)
Stagnating wages cost UK workers £11,000 a year, says Resolution Foundation
Fifteen years of wage stagnation has left British workers £11,000 worse off per year, according to research shared exclusively with BBC Panorama. The figures come from the Resolution Foundation think tank, which focuses on low-to-middle income households. It also found typical UK household incomes have fallen further behind those in Germany. In 2008, the gap was over £500 a year, now it is £4,000. The Treasury says the UK economy is more resilient than many predicted. In his Budget speech last week, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt acknowledged there is still enormous pressure on people’s finances. In recent months, wages have failed to keep up with rising costs, meaning that millions of Britons have, in effect, had a pay cut. But experts have told Panorama that problems with incomes go much further back. The Resolution Foundation calculated that had wages continued to grow as they were before the financial crash of 2008, the average worker would make £11,000 more per year than they do now, taking rising prices into account. And Ipsos polling of more than 6,000 adults suggested that two-thirds of them think the economy is going to get worse in the coming year.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64970708
Manchester office investment dominates ‘Big Six’ cities in strong end to 2022
Manchester emerged as the most active for office investment among the ‘Big Six’ cities around the UK last year. New research from property services firm, JLL, showed that £421m was transacted across the city in 2022. The ‘Big Six’ research, which tracks office take-up, vacancy rates and grade A rental growth across Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester, showed 426,900 sq ft was transacted in the final quarter, helping to boost the year’s activity to meet the city’s 10-year average. That meant it finished three per cent up on 2021 but below the five and 10-year averages. Leasing activity increased across five of the six markets analysed, with Bristol the only city recording a decline of a third compared with the first half of the year. Manchester accounted for 26% of the 142 deals completed nationally last year, according to JLL’s research. Professional services was the biggest driver of activity in the city, accounting for 24% of activity, followed by TMT and public administration, with 21% and 20.5%, respectively. Prime rents increased by six per cent across the regions, with Bristol and Leeds seeing the strongest annual growth of 10.4% and 9.1%, respectively.
Brits now more concerned about state of UK economy than before budget, polling finds
More than a third of Brits surveyed say the budget last week made them more concerned about the state of the UK’s economy. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveiled his spring statement in the House of Commons last week in light of rosier economic projections and within the government’s self-imposed fiscal rules. He focused on childcare reforms, pensions, and business investment but the OBR warned the nation’s tax burden will peak at a post-war high of 37.7 per cent of GDP in 2027-28. People are also more concerned than reassured about their finances, Ipsos polling found. Gideon Skinner, from Ipsos, said Brits realised “external factors are also to blame” but added that many still blame the Conservatives “for at least some of Britain’s economic difficulties”. Meanwhile a separate poll for Opinium finds more than twice as many voters would prefer a Labour government led by Keir Starmer to be running public services and the economy. Just 17 per cent of people support Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government on its public services record, compared to 43 per cent for the opposition, the Observer reported. It comes after the government made an enhanced pay offer to unions last week in a bid to put an end to months of walkouts sparked by discontent over wages and conditions.
Major funding for Greater Manchester innovation in materials, health and AI
The University is at the heart of four new projects that have received a share of millions of pounds awarded to the Greater Manchester Innovation Accelerator, to turn cutting-edge technologies into businesses in Greater Manchester – in order to boost the region’s economy and improve residents’ health. As part of the government’s Innovation Accelerator Fund, the four projects focus on the very latest technology around genomics, medical diagnostics, advanced materials, and artificial intelligence. The bids were coordinated by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and funding is for two years. The funding, awarded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), has been allocated to innovative projects in sectors where Greater Manchester has existing research strengths. The Manchester Turing Innovation Hub, led by the University of Manchester, works with a consortium of business, academic and public sector organisations. The project aims to accelerate Greater Manchester’s £5bn digital economy by supporting existing start-ups and creating new ones – especially in the field of artificial intelligence. It will also help to develop skills in the region with a particular focus on women, and under-represented groups in the industry. The Hub will bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and business and will have centres across the region from which to coordinate activity. With no city having a global lead in AI commercialisation, the project aims to position Greater Manchester at the forefront, which would have a transformative effect on the regional economy and jobs.
https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/news/display/?id=29549