Author Archives: Theodore Rankine-Fourdraine

German labour market – records set, no recession

Labour market figures released yesterday by Destatis, the German Statistics Office, showed the country continuing to grow with record employment (post-reunification) and the lowest unemployment for nearly 20 years. The charts below show the positive trends and how the country … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Employment, EU, Euro area, Germany, Unemployment | Leave a comment

US Fed chairman concerned about unemployment

The US needs to deal with its unemployment levels according to Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve (Fed). “There are obviously very severe economic and social consequences from this level of unemployment,” the Chairman is reported as saying. “So getting … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Employment, Quantitative easing (QE), USA | Leave a comment

Ireland: deflation, debt and no growth

Unless you live in the proverbial hole in the ground you will know that Ireland has finally agreed to a IMF and Euro area bail out that it desperately needed. But how did the Celtic tiger end up in such a dire situation? Let’s have … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Politics | Leave a comment

The CPI – a new and improved recipe on the way?

The consumer price index (CPI) is set to be enhanced, with a new version published to include housing costs, it emerged this week. Although rent is already included in the CPI the costs of owning a home are not, despite … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Inflation, UK | 1 Comment

Employment and unemployment in the EU and major countries

Sometimes the mass trend is a lot more interesting than the individual components. That is why I share this graph which has the unemployment rate of all the EU countries and some other major economies.  Personally I find it not only interesting but … Continue reading

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Employment, EU, UK, Unemployment | 1 Comment