Archive for category Press Release
Misleading claims about economic benefits of Equality Act are endangering jobs
Posted by Nick Cowen in Political Correctness, Press Release, Race and Equality on 03/01/2012
Contrary to government assurances, new equality rules will have no economic benefit and questionable impact on real inequality
As unemployment continues to grow, a new Civitas report reveals that new equality regulations threaten further job losses. The Equality Act 2010 introduced new duties on employers to protect disadvantaged groups from discrimination in the workplace and combines existing anti-discrimination law into one act. The Government’s official Impact Assessment of the Equality Act claimed that it would produce net economic benefits of £25-£87 million annually and increase access to jobs. But Assessing the Damage, by Nigel Williams, finds that the Government’s Assessment relied on a series of spurious assumptions, and that the more probable outcome is job destruction.
Rise in STEM subjects disproportionately due to overseas students
Posted by Nick Cowen in Economics, Education, Press Release on 05/12/2011
Universities are educating 6,000 fewer British engineers a year than 10 years ago
British universities are adding fewer STEM subject graduates to the labour market than total student figures suggest, according to a new Civitas report. The STEM subject push by Stephen L. Clarke finds that the number of overseas students attending British universities to study engineering increased by 12,308 from 1997 to 2007, but that the number of British engineering students declined by 5,769. [p. 3] As a result, the British economy will struggle to find the skills necessary to drive a production-led recovery.
Equality law’s billion pound paper-shuffle
Posted by Nick Cowen in Multiculturalism, Political Correctness, Press Release, Race and Equality on 28/11/2011
‘Equalities industry’ undermines true equality
As youth unemployment rises to record levels, a new Civitas report reveals that British workplaces spend up to a billion pounds a year complying with clumsy equality legislation. The costs put particular strain on public sector organisations, as well as making it more difficult for businesses to create and retain jobs. Furthermore, these policies have made jobs less accessible to disadvantaged, marginal workers.
The Rise of the Equalities Industry, by sociology professor Peter Saunders, examines the operation of Britain’s equality laws and concludes that they are seriously flawed.
Why economic growth is faltering and what we can do about it
Posted by Nick Cowen in Economics, Press Release on 14/11/2011
Government’s mistake is to misunderstand the scale of de-industrialisation
The Government wants economic growth as much as anyone. Why isn’t it happening? A new report from Civitas argues that growth is faltering because the Government has been solving the wrong problems. The Coalition thinks that the national debt and global warming are the biggest challenges we face, but according to A Strategy For Economic Growth, our main problem is de-industrialisation. The report suggests ten things the Government could do.
EU holds back UK economic recovery
Posted by Nick Cowen in European Union, Press Release on 17/10/2011
Britain must plan exit strategy from failing EU, but should keep trade links
As Europe’s leaders gamble their nations’ finances on saving the Euro, a new Civitas report reveals that the European Union is damaging Britain’s economic recovery and sapping job growth. Time to Say No, by Ian Milne, shows that a break with the EU need not represent a drastic break with Europe itself. Instead, it will permit a pragmatic reform of trade and immigration relations. Existing international institutions can achieve this without the current burdens of bureaucracy in the EU. It will also revive democracy at home.
Government has abandoned private pension savers to predatory financial sector
Posted by Nick Cowen in Economics, Press Release, Social Security on 12/09/2011
End of defined benefit pensions a tragedy for prudent savers
Millions of pensioners will have their retirement incomes stripped of between 20% and 75% of their value, reveals a new Civitas report. You’re on Your Own, by Peter Morris and Alasdair Palmer, outlines how the collapse of defined benefit pension schemes, which guarantee savers a fixed annual retirement income, has resulted in less saving. But it permitted new anti-consumer practices to emerge amongst pension providers. The result is that, despite conscientiously saving during their working years, millions of Britons will be far worse off in retirement than they should be.