UK GDP figures have just been released, confirming that the UK is in a recession following two quarters of negative growth. Stephen Hughes, Director of Currencies.co.uk commented: “Despite strong retail sales for March, improved PMI surveys and other data which indicated the UK will had narrowly avoided recession, GDP for Q1 was -0.2%.

This has already had a significant and negative effect on the pound which just yesterday was touching fresh highs against the CAD, the Aussie, the Kiwi, the Euro, the Dollar and the Rand. “This unexpected news highlights how uncertain the currency market can be and as a result we could see the Pound dip further against most of the major currencies over the course of today and the rest of the week. We therefore encourage anyone looking to exchange sterling to do so as soon as possible. It may also be worth considering a forward contract to fix the exchange rate at its current level. “Currencies.co.uk has saved its customers thousands of pounds because it offers a market leading commercial rate of exchange. As a specialist currency broker, we have years of experience dealing with a variety of private clients and businesses who need to move money internationally.”

With MPs and even the Prime Minister recently fuelling a panic across the country, there are a number of garages who will no doubt be shutting their doors soon because of the amount of fuel that will be and has been being bought by the public.

Members of Parliament and Ministers have been giving out conflicting messages to the public recently which has led to a spate of panic buying and a lot of petrol stations have since run out of fuel and are being forced to shut up shop early.

There are also claims that there’s more of a political side to the stoking up of the potential fuel crisis. The whole thing though, is down to a potential strike from the fuel tank drivers over Easter. The reason for their strike is down to their working conditions among a number of other things but Ministers are saying that they only expect around half of drivers to walk out if the strike goes ahead.

There’s been no date set for the strike and the union that is pushing for the strike, Unite, has to give 7 days’ warning before it can go ahead. However, there have already been two dates in April identified as potential dates for the strike to begin.

The Government are urging people to keep their tanks topped up above half so that if there is a shortage the country doesn’t end up grinding to a halt and things stop getting done. There are a number of people who will be filling up jerry cans so that they have extra fuel, just in case of a shortage, and they will be storing their jerry cans in their garages.

People’s garages are an important thing in which people store a lot of different things, with fuel being rather high on a lot of peoples to keep safe. If you do want to keep your garage and your petrol safe then you should pay a visit to Select Garage Doors and see what you like from out of their collection of garage doors.

Aberdeen is the best city to find a job in the UK, while Hull is the hardest, according to the latest research from job search website Adzuna.co.uk. London is awash with demand for secretaries and estate agents, but a desert for call centre staff, while Belfast, Manchester and Edinburgh all top the lists for particular professions.

The top 50 cities in the UK were ranked by comparing the job vacancies in Adzuna’s comprehensive search index of over 500,000 live jobs to the number of claimants in each city from the latest ONS data. Adzuna also analysed the distribution of job titles and categories to determine which jobs are in hottest demand in each city.

The study shows huge variations in the prospects for jobseekers across the country, and big differences in the types of roles in demand in different locations. Even with unemployment reaching almost 2.7 million, it reveals clear pockets of strength in the UK job market.

Aberdeen is now the easiest place to find a job in the UK, overtaking Cambridge in the last 6 months, with more vacancies than it has unemployed. The Scottish city’s employment growth continues to be buoyed by oil & gas, with the number of energy industry vacancies in the city at 18 times the national average. Southern English cities dominate the rest of the hotspot list, suggesting a continuing North/South divide. Compared with 2011, Reading moves up to second, Cambridge slips from top to third, with London and Milton Keynes filling out the top 5.

Hull remains the hardest city to find a job with 80 applicants chasing every vacancy. Nursing appears to be a rare bright spot in Hull, with more than a third of the city’s advertised vacancies in the healthcare sector. Stoke-on-Trent comes second, with 72 applicants per vacancy. Southend, the Wirral and Motherwell round out the worst 5 areas.

The top job sectors in demand nationally are Engineering, IT and Sales & Marketing. Consistently strong demand for a limited supply of skilled professionals in IT and Engineering is being reflected in salaries for these roles that are over 20% above the national average.

Relative to its population, London is the top city recruiting estate agents and secretaries, but bottom of the list for call centre jobs. Belfast in contrast tops the list for these call centre roles, with Manchester leading for marketing & sales positions and Edinburgh for finance jobs. Liverpool is the hardest place in the UK to find a construction or IT role.

Andrew Hunter, Co-Founder of Adzuna, said “Because we list nearly every UK job ad in our search engine, we’re able to see how the employment market is changing on a daily basis. Jobseekers can use this information to help them target their job search in the locations in demand and acquire the skills employers are looking for. Policymakers should also take note of where the jobs are being created, and make sure that people are being trained in the right skills in the right locations.”

A new analysis of home enterprise places the district of Surrey as the primary ‘hotspot’ for home offices amongst the 174 Principal Authority areas in England & Wales. Smart Growth Analytics’ findings demonstrate the economic importance of home offices in regional economies across the country.

The ‘hotspot’ analysis ranks all the Authority areas on their volumes of home offices and their percentage of home offices as a proportion of all those in employment in the area. It shows that, with some 27,000 home offices and almost 5% of total area employment working in home offices, Surrey marks itself out as the nation’s top home office hotspot. In contrast, the ‘average’ Principal Authority in England & Wales, is home to around 5,000 home offices, and they account for around 3% of employment. The Top 25 home office hotspots are dominated by the Greater South East (an area that comprises London, the South East and East of England). Just under two thirds (64%) of the Top 25 are in the Greater South East, despite the fact the area only accounts for just over one third (36%) of all Principal Authorities in England and Wales. Joining Surrey in the Top 25, are the following Authorities from the Greater South East: • Hampshire (South East, 2nd)
• Hertfordshire (East of England, 3rd)
• Kent (South East, 4th)
• Essex (East of England, 5th) • Oxfordshire (South East, 6th)
• Buckinghamshire (South East, 7th) • West Sussex (South East, 8th)
• Cambridgeshire (East of England,10th)
• Camden (London, 13th)
• Kensington and Chelsea (London, 16th)
• East Sussex (South East, 17th)
• Suffolk (East of England, 21st)
• Barnet (London, 22nd)
• Norfolk (East of England, 23rd)
• Westminster (London, 24th)

Despite the dominance of the Greater South East, home offices are an essential part of every regional economy and Principal Authority area across England & Wales:

• Three of the Top 25 home office hotspots are located in the South West (Devon in 9th, Gloucestershire in 11th, Wiltshire in 18th); • Two of the Top 25 hotspots are located in the West Midlands (Worcestershire in 14th and Staffordshire in 15th) and a further two are in the East Midlands (Northamptonshire in 20th and Leicestershire in 25th); • Also represented in the Top 25, are North Yorkshire, in Yorkshire & The Humber, in 12th, and Lancashire, in the North West, in 19th;
• Wales has three Authority areas which make the Top 25 in the ‘percentage only’ sub-category of the combined home office score (Monmouthshire, Ceredigion and Powys). These areas demonstrate significantly above average concentrations of home offices against the national average;
• The North East, whilst not represented in any of the ‘Top 25′ listings, has some 25,000 home offices, with almost 5,000 in County Durham and 4,000 in Northumberland. Jim Plunkett-Cole, Principal Analyst at Smart Growth Analytics, commented:

”The findings demonstrate the economic importance of home offices in regional economies across the Country.” “They begin to help us understand the increasingly important home-based economic functionality of the more rural and residential areas outside of London, and particularly the Home Counties and Shire Counties across England & Wales.”

“They provide strong supportive evidence of a need for home office support across these areas in order to maximise their economic contribution. In particular, they demonstrate a need for higher speed broadband, ‘virtual’ business support services and networking.” -

Supporting stability and growth is the main priority for learning and development professionals in UK organisations, according to the results of the fourth UK Learning Trends Index.

250 respondents completed the survey conducted by GoodPractice in conjunction with Reed Learning and INL Consultancy. The aim of the research is to highlight key industry issues and provide insights into the training and skills agenda within UK organisations.

Maintaining organisational efficiency and execution remains the key driver for organisations (67%). The impact of the turbulent economy has put pressure on learning and development to provide value, be cost effective and support their organisations through this period of uncertainty. This has resulted in an increased focus on organisational efficiencies and also demonstrates the emergence of a more commercial, results-driven approach to learning and skills provision.

The results also highlight the continued emphasis by UK organisations on leadership development, with 45% citing it as a priority. However, the gap between leadership development and other priorities appears to be closing.

Talent management, performance management and the development of middle managers have all experienced a renewed focus. Organisations have always targeted activity towards the groups most critical to its success, which includes the senior leadership group. But the development of other high potential people within the management population seems to be growing in importance.

GoodPractice CEO Peter Casebow comments: “In addition to the continuing priority of organisational efficiencies and the growing importance of activities like talent management, the responses also showed a renewed support for informal learning and signs that social learning is raising its game. These results mirror a general trend towards working informally and finding information at the point of need, whether that’s on Google or asking a colleague. It also indicates that we are beginning to harness the tools and technologies needed to facilitate informal and social learning in the workplace.”

In fact, the Index shows a shift towards a greater use of technology in training and development, with 70% of respondents predicting an increase in adoption. Casebow continues, “Technology plays such a huge part in our everyday lives now that it is not surprising to see this shift towards its use in supporting UK leaders.

“Our mobile app aimed at providing frontline support for leaders and managers now has over 10,000 users and is accessed on average 1.5 times per week. This is all part of progressing learning and development and we expect to see this trend continue when we conduct the next survey in six months time.”

For a full copy of the report or for further information about the UK Learning Trends Index contact sscott@goodpractice.com or call 0131 221 3113.

Students from around the world are set to descend upon the University of Warwick for eleventh annual Warwick Economics Summit from Friday 17 February – Sunday 19 February 2012.

“Nobel Laureate Professor George Akerlof and Rufus H. Yerxa, Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organisation will be among the many distinguished speakers at the 11th annual Warwick Economics Summit this month.

Warwick Economics Summit is the second largest student-run academic conference in Europe and it will take place from February 17 February until Sunday 19 February 2012. It brings together some of the most revered speakers in the realms of Economics, Politics and International Development and allows delegates to learn about and discuss current issues through these spheres.

The Summit has grown in both size and reputation since the inaugural Summit in 2001. The audience consists of 200 Warwick and 200 non-Warwick students from top Universities around the world such as MIT and Princeton. Co-Coordinator Stela Bonifacic said, “We are constantly amazed by the number of universities and countries represented at the Summit. Last year, there were students from 56 universities in 17 countries including the United States, Brazil and Russia”.

In previous years, the Summit has also attracted some truly inspiring speakers. Nobel Laureate Professor John F. Nash visited in 2005, Professor Ewald Dowotny, Governor of the National Bank of Austria in 2009 and more recently Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP spoke as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 2010.

This year’s line up of distinguished speakers promises to be one of the best yet and includes Nobel Laureate Professor George Akerlof, bestselling author of “The Armchair Economist” Professor Steven Landsburg, Rufus H. Yerxa Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organisation and Lamido Sanusi, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Co-Coordinator Winston Yap said “This year’s speakers are truly inspiring. This is only the second time in the history of the Summit that a Nobel Laureate will be visiting and we are extremely excited by this prospect. We are sure our delegates will enjoy the wide-ranging nature of the topics covered”.

During the weekend, there are also seminars, a panel debate and networking sessions with sponsors during the weekend allowing delegates get the most out of the weekend.

The social highlight of the weekend is the lavish Summit Ball – where all 400 delegates are treated to a three course meal and entertainment throughout the night. This is a perfect opportunity for students from around the world to get to know each other in a more informal event. Tickets for this year’s event sold out in record time, however, the events will be livestreamed on the official website: http://www.warwickeconomicssummit.com.

The Summit is organised by a diligent team of 45 students who are looking forward to welcoming speakers and students from around the world to the University of Warwick. Warwick’s Vice Chancellor Professor Nigel Thrift said “Warwick Economics Summit is a fantastic event that the University is proud to host. We are delighted to have speakers of this calibre on our campus”.

Warwick Economics Summit is proud to be supported by the Economics Department of the University of Warwick. Sponsors include RBS, Deloitte, PwC, Bloomberg and Barclays Capital.”

~ENDS~
Note to Editors:
1. When publishing features about the above event online, please provide a link to our official website: http://www.warwickeconomicssummit.com

List of confirmed speakers for Warwick Economics Summit 2012

 Nobel Laureate Professor George Akelof
 Bestselling Author Professor Steven Landsburg
 Rufus H. Yerxa, Deputy Director-General of the WTO
 Lamido Sanusi, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria
 Dr Adam Posen, Monetary Policy Committee
 Paul Ormerod, leading British economist
 John O’Sullivan, Britain Economics Editor, The Economist
 Baroness Vadera, former government minister
 Charles Seaford, New Economics Foundation  Dr Johannes Abeler, University of Oxford
 Professor Abhinay Muthoo, University of Warwick
 Professor Sascha Becker, University of Warwick
 Mark Smythe, RBS Economics Unit
 Margaret Doyle, journalist and broadcaster
 John Hemming MP, Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley
 Phillip Blond, Director of ResPublica
 Maya Mehta, founder of the microfinance group at Clifford Chance

The announcement that the UK economy contracted by 0.2 per cent underlines the trend for companies and consumers to avoid spending wherever possible, business leaders in the West Midlands said today.

Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group (BCCG) said today’s GDP figures for the final quarter of 2011 was further evidence that the economy is stalling,

BCCG president Michael Ward said consumer demand was falling as a result of wage restraint and inflation and he added. “This has hurt consumption while the eurozone crisis has meant that the UK’s key export market has been in a state of turmoil for much of the last year.  Many businesses and consumers are retrenching and avoiding spending wherever possible.”

The BCCG quarterly economic survey for the last three months of 2011 indicated businesses within the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise partnership (LEP) were seeing a slowing in export growth with 10 per cent fewer manufacturers reporting that their export sales had increased in Q4 compared with Q1 of 2011.

Mr Ward added: “It is vital that the Bank of England holds interest rates at their historic low of 0.5 per cent for the foreseeable future as any increase would eat into the disposable income consumers have left and would cause interest rates to rise on mortgages and loans.

“The Monetary Policy Committee must also expand its Quantitative Easing programme £50 billion to £325 billion.  This would free up significant amounts of capital that could then be loaned out to businesses looking to expand.”

The British Chambers of Commerce recently announced that, as a result of the eurozone crisis being more serious than previously predicted, they expect  GDP growth will be minimal until mid-2012, and then improve gradually.

Additionally the British Chambers forecast that unemployment will increase to 2.77 million before it shows any sign of abating. 

Interview requests:

For interviews on this press release, please call Birmingham Chamber Group’s media hotline: 0121 450 4228.

Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group:

Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group is one of the UK’s oldest and largest Chambers. It has nearly 3,000 member companies that employ over 200,000 plus affiliate organisations representing  15,000 people. It offers extensive services to industry and commerce, having served the interests of business for nearly three centuries, promoting trade locally, nationally and internationally.

Members of Birmingham Chamber Group: Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, Burton & District Chamber, Chase Chamber, Lichfield & Tamworth Chamber, Solihull Chamber, The Institute of Asian Businesses, British American Business Council and the Chamber Executive Club.

The outlook for jobs has worsened with a survey of 2,100 employers finding that four out of five had no plans to hire workers in the next three months.

The survey by Manpower found that hiring expectations were at their lowest level for three years. Finance and business services are cutting back on hiring plans, although utilities continue to seek new staff. The survey comes ahead of the official unemployment statistics on Wednesday which is expected to show another rise.

The Manpower survey found large regional variations. The employment outlook for Scotland was flat; Northern Ireland was -6% and Wales -3%. Employers in the East of England were hiring more than those in the West. The survey found employers in the North East were the most upbeat, with a +10% rating, while those in the North West had a rating of -5%. A positive number implies more employers want to increase rather than decrease their staff.

The Managing Director of Manchester based marketing company MJ Worldwide,  said, “This will not be a good start to the New Year.”

He added: “We hear every day of job cuts here and job cuts there, but  the future has never looked brighter in our business. With our commitment to delivering only the highest of standards and our motivating and fun atmosphere is sure to never surrender to the recession, we are rapidly growing and the marketing industry is defying the economic gloom.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news
Belfast has made it onto the list of the top five most productive cities in the UK. The breakdown of figures across the UK for 2009 and 2010 has just been released. Topping the list of cities by a long stretch is Inner London West, followed by Edinburgh, then Inner London East, Berkshire, and Belfast. MSG Marketing is based in Belfast City centre and is delighted with this news with the Managing Director saying, ‘this is good news for the people of Belfast going into 2012. MSG Marketing moved from Cardiff to Belfast in June this year as we believe Belfast is a viable market for what we do, the growth we have achieved in Belfast has been astronomical!’
When you look at the figures for Northern Ireland as a whole the picture is very different. In 2009 Northern Ireland was the least productive region. In 2010 Northern Ireland rose just above Wales, but still lags far behind England and Scotland. MSG Marketing can see there is a lot of work that needs to be done in Belfast, but at least this research shows that the city is taking steps in the right direction. ‘Northern Ireland’s focus needs to be on improving the economy as this will have a ripple effect on everything else.’ continues the Managing Director of MSG Marketing. MSG Marketing plans are to ensure that their business continues to expand and cover all parts of Northern Ireland. 2010 figures show that Wales now produces a little less than Northern Ireland per head of population, but Scotland and England are still considerably more productive at £20,220 and £20,974 per head respectively. MSG Marketing Director wraps up his thoughts on quite simply saying, ‘the more people are able to earn the more they are able to spend and put back into the economy.’

From Bust to Boom: How to turn your recession around
Everywhere we look these days it’s all doom and gloom, empty shops, no jobs and depression everywhere, however sometimes it can be a just a state of mind. If 10% of people had some motivation and inspiration to become entrepreneurs and start their own business we could restart the UK economy growing again. Gemma dawson, from GD Party Supplies decided to start her business when she lost her job in 2010 because of the recession. With a young family to support it wasn’t easy to find a new position and the childcare bill was so expensive so she decided to start up on her own. As she says ‘the first couple of months were very hard, I was working flat out 15 hours a day finding the right suppliers, seeking advertising and learning PR, marketing and advertising which was all new to me’. Gemma started her business in October 2010 and says the first year has been the hardest however people are continuing to celebrate kids birthdays, adults birthday and other events such as weddings, engagements and baby showers. Gemma thinks that as people are so down at the moment a party or event can be seen as something to look forward to and she believes this is the reason the party business is surviving the recession. Advice to anyone looking to go from bust to boom is to research your ideas while you are still in a job or look for inspiration and training courses. Being unemployed is a great time to really ask yourself what you want to do with your life and then work towards doing that.