Showing posts with label UK Economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK Economy. Show all posts

Wednesday, 27 July 2011

UK Business Secretary Vince Cable Speaks at UKTI Business Summit

UK Business Secretary Vince Cable adressed the importance for investment into the UK by foreigners in helping the UK economy.



He announced that almost 95,000 jobs were created or safeguarded in the UK in 2010/11, he went on to emphasize that this is a good indicator that foreign companies in the UK are sticking around and more than that they are succeeding and anticipating a positive and lucrative future for the UK economy.

The last few years and last year in particular were very tough around the world including the UK but the figures displayed do show some signs that the UK did attract a fair amount of inward investment from foreigners.




The UKTI is the body that deals with Trade and Investment for the UK, and supports foreign businesses coming to the UK and has been heavily focused in preparing the UK for foreign investment.

Thursday, 7 July 2011

Feedback on UK Immigration Cap- Risky for UK Businesses

A group of MP's from across all parties have warned that the Home Office policies to reduce the number of migrants entering the UK hold a significant risk to UK Businesses at the most crucial time when skilled workers are needed. The global need for skills and growing competition for skilled labour is increasing,the group of MP's commented that the limit of non EU workers in the UK potentially could do more damage in the long run economically for the UK.

The general idea to limit the number of foreign workers and the introduction of the UK Immigration Cap was also used as a political tool too to generate confidence in UK Voters.

The group made special note that the UK should appear open for business at this crucial time. instead of scaring off investment or development because of lengthy, confusing and difficult bureaucratic processes.

Many multinational companies raised concerns that the policies for the Tier 2 Sponsor were not clear and also that they feared to be refused after spending money for the process.

In fact it was also reported that many UK Businesses were reporting skills shortages at a time when UK unemployment is high.

A prominent UK economist claimed that the skills threshold was a further barrier to non EU Migrants which excludes certain professions entirely from applying to work in the UK under either a skilled or less skilled position.

Another major issue raised by large companies based in the UK was the lack of confidence in applying for urgently needed skilled staff in the event financial situation improves and for certain industries that could improve more quickly than others how quickly they could react to skilled staff requirements from outside the UK and EU.

Tuesday, 1 February 2011

City of London: Highest Office Space Take Up figures for 5 years

Cushman and Wakefield (Commercial Real Estate Brokers) have reported that in 2010 there has been record numbers of office space take up in the City of London and the Docklands. These figures are the highest in the past 5 years and gives welcome encouragement to UK businesses and Developers given the global current financial climate and in particular the UK.

General feeling in the property industry in Central London is positive with JP Morgan and Bloomberg taking up large space recently.

Thursday, 27 January 2011

UK Bookings to the USA 2010 Report

I received an interesting and informative email about UK travel bookings to the USA, thought I would share some of the data:

The United Kingdom Travel Trade Barometer (as of October -November 2010) demonstrated that only slight growth from the previous summer carried over into the 2010 4th Quarter.

For the first quarter of 2011 many UK tour Operators are forecasting higher bookings to the USA in comparison to the same time in 2010.

There are many reasons for UK residents to choose to travel to the USA: one of the main motivating factors for travel booking to the USA in the next six months will be VALUE. Accommodation rates also were a top motivating factor as was the exchange rate.

The main factors deterring UK travelers booking trips to the USA was reported to be the current economic climate and the UK economy specifically.