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Personally I think there should be less emphasis on going to University and much more emphasis on skilled apprenticeships. The UK is good at manufacturing and it's scandalous that we've run it down to the extent now we're totally reliant on Mickey Mouse industries like Insurance and Finance. As has been demonstrated you can't build an economy on moving money about.
You are so correct and let me add tourism for living IN THE LAND OF MICKEY MOUSE in Florida, it is very evident. I agree with your skilled apprenticeship comment, but aren't many of your jobs being lost to China and India and other countries as well? THAT is what needs to STOP if any country is to survive. Plus we are losing so many jobs due to technology, and really technology isn't adding as many as are lost is scary.
I'm probably working class, since I only earn around £12,000 (compared to the average wage of around £42,000 according to Wikipedia) a year, still I make a good living and I actually don't worry about money too much, I don't worry about heating my home, I don't really worry about bills anymore either after I paid off all my debt earlier this year. And despite me having quite a low wage, I am still far better off then the average person in say.. Latvia or Poland, even Portugal.
I do think a lot of people over exaggerate a lot of things.. the UK along with all the Western world will continue to have the highest living standards for the foreseeable future, no way can the likes of China, India, Brazil and Russia (or the sweatshop economies) provide such luxuries.
What I meant was how much more difficult it is now, and how much more difficult I imagine it will be for somebody not academically minded or with a business brain or a specific career wish to earn enough to own their home and provide for a family. Fifty years ago in industrial areas it was possible for said person to leave school at 15/16, get an apprenticeship in the factory/steelworks/mine etc and eventually earn enough in a stable job which gave him self-respect to afford to buy his own home, which then were much more affordable. That person now hardly has much choice beyond call centres and supermarkets, which offer virtually no sense of fulfilment or career prospects or stability, and which generally don't pay enough to buy a home and support a non-working wife and children. Also with the bigger difference between rich and poor these days and greater access to media and greater exposure to advertising, I suspect that person now will be reminded of his poverty now more often than his equivalent a couple of generations ago.
When my parents got married in the late 70s they were roughly the age I am now and bought their first house for what was about three times their joint income. If I had a partner now earning the same as me, that same house would cost just over five times more than our combined income (meaning we wouldn't be able to afford it). If we were talking about London housing as opposed to small-town Yorkshire , I bet the differential would be much worse. Plus I have a five-figure debt from a higher education which in my parents' day was not considered as necessary and was free anyway, plus I don't have access to as generous company pensions as they did and won't get the state pension as early as they will, and I will likely spend my adult life in a more competitive, insecure labour market. I know we're much better off than in most countries, and thankfully I'm a man of simple tastes and don't mind living frugally so it's not myself I worry about, but I can't think of a time in history until now when a generation has not had a better living standard than the one before. It goes completely against what most of us grow up believing in, and I do worry about what the social ramifications of that will be.
So? Things still appear to be worse in the US, what with higher unemployment and a downgrade in credit rating. Our economic growth will be sluggish due to the government determined on reducing the deficit, but as one poster already pointed out, it may benefit us in the long term.
Not true. Neither country is technically in a recession, although the US is still the largest economy and the largest manufacturer. It also still prints the worlds reserve. It has has a higher economic year on year growth and whislt unemployment remains stuck, it hasn't slashed spending like the UK has.
Because our shortsighted eurosceptic government wants to balance the budget first, we are not spending in any areas for future growth. An example would be the $100bn computer game industry where the UK used to be one of the top 3 countries. Now we have reduced investment to zero we have slipped down the lost and have lost thousands of jobs and this is increasing. This is true of most of our governments policies.
Bottom line - we have cut spending and will continue to do so reducing opportunities for growth in manufacturing, research and develoment, and technology. We are also marginalising ourselves from Europe (which we fell we don't need but is the largest consumer of British exports). Them only thing we seem to be doing right is in forging stronger links with China.
I don't believe for a second that the average wage is £42,000. Is that gross household income perhaps?
In wealthy professional areas, the average wage might be £42k, but in most of the country I'd say it's nearer to about £25k. In poor working class towns like Blackburn and Burnley it's probably only about £17k.
I've always been very skeptical when I've seen these average salaries, they seem awfully high to me. An experienced school teacher for example is paid about £40k, and I would assume they are paid much higher than average.
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Originally Posted by dunno what to put here
I'm probably working class, since I only earn around £12,000 (compared to the average wage of around £42,000 according to Wikipedia) a year, still I make a good living and I actually don't worry about money too much, I don't worry about heating my home, I don't really worry about bills anymore either after I paid off all my debt earlier this year. And despite me having quite a low wage, I am still far better off then the average person in say.. Latvia or Poland, even Portugal.
I do think a lot of people over exaggerate a lot of things.. the UK along with all the Western world will continue to have the highest living standards for the foreseeable future, no way can the likes of China, India, Brazil and Russia (or the sweatshop economies) provide such luxuries.
Why is housing so expensive there and really in most of Europe?? That is something I just cannot understand. Is it because there is no more/little land in which to build in the urban areas, so supply vs demand??? I watch House Hunters International and am just agog at the prices there; even in Slovenia, the people had a hard time finding a house under 200,000!!! What is with that???
Just very curious...
Every country in Europe is different in terms of property markets. But many have a high population density, and a lot of protected historic areas and buildings. City centers that can be many hundreds of years old.
Places with a lot of space include Scandianvia, but those countries tend to have high costs for everything.
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