Should billionaires and multinationals pay fair tax?

[vinty]

Low productivity growth in the UK seems in some part to be a result of lack of investment in technology. The banking crash has restricted opportunity for business to invest.

So labours tax on robots will see invest slump even more

Also a decline in oil and banking. Of course most Lefties are anti fracking which could revitalise the oil industry.

Low productivity could be caused by low wages, pay peanuts and you get monkey's.
Wasn't it American Fracking that contributed to the world oil glut which forced down oil prices to record Low's.

 

[Doggit]

Te usual argument for low productivity is lack of investment, but I suspect it's over regulation for things like H&S, and paternal leave etc.

And I think that fracking has caused an oil glut, because the Americans don't need to buy so much on the open market. Unlike the other oil producers, I don't think the Americans are selling any of their oil production though.

 

[motorbiking]

job growth has been in the low wage/skills area.

 

[Brigadier]

Low productivity could be caused by low wages, pay peanuts and you get monkey's.

Te usual argument for low productivity is lack of investment, but I suspect it's over regulation for things like H&S, and paternal leave etc.

I think that the biggest factors are inept management, and the general attitude of those "in charge".

Why do "comparable" EU countries work shorter hours, have higher incomes, yet are also more productive than us?

Why is opting out of the Working Time Directive seen as a valid option in many UK businesses?

Why is there still a culture that sitting at your desk for 12 hours a day (then answering emails etc at home after that) makes you a better employee than the person who does their contracted hours?


"Parkinson's Law" - work expands to fit the resources available to do it.


It is the folly that, if I can do just as good a job in 35 hours as Tom does in 55, he is considered to be "more committed".

A start might be to enforce the WTD, and to start dismantling the culture of "putting in the hours", as opposed to "putting in the work".

 

[SirGalahad]

I think that the biggest factors are inept management, and the general attitude of those "in charge".

Why do "comparable" EU countries work shorter hours, have higher incomes, yet are also more productive than us?

Why is opting out of the Working Time Directive seen as a valid option in many UK businesses?

Why is there still a culture that sitting at your desk for 12 hours a day (then answering emails etc at home after that) makes you a better employee than the person who does their contracted hours?


"Parkinson's Law" - work expands to fit the resources available to do it.


It is the folly that, if I can do just as good a job in 35 hours as Tom does in 55, he is considered to be "more committed".

A start might be to enforce the WTD, and to start dismantling the culture of "putting in the hours", as opposed to "putting in the work".

Because we have had a culture shaped by the notion that hard work and long hours is honourable and desirable when working smarter is better as its more productive, workers have fewer health problems (good for the economy and NHS) etc.

Our management is poor because of culture it has been brought up in which is shaped by Government and media.

Its always been an issue of quantity over quality.

Senior management get there not because they are good at what they do but they do what the guy above them tells them what to do.

 

[Doggit]

It is the folly that, if I can do just as good a job in 35 hours as Tom does in 55, he is considered to be "more committed"

Another negative attitude that came from America. Not sure how they measure the criteria, but it's reckoned that a lot of time nowadays is spent surfing the web and answering personal emails whist at work - obviously can't do that on the production line though.

 

[Brigadier]

Another negative attitude that came from America. Not sure how they measure the criteria, but it's reckoned that a lot of time nowadays is spent surfing the web and answering personal emails whist at work - obviously can't do that on the production line though.

Probably chicken-and-egg though; because you're expected to be there, and there's no recognition for what you achieve beyond haunting the workplace for an inordinate amount of time, you might as well do "your own thing" in work's time.

 

[JohnD]

Te usual argument for low productivity is lack of investment, but I suspect it's over regulation for things like H&S, and paternal leave etc.

If that was true, then the lightly-regulated system with minimal workers' right in the UK would be more productive than the rest of the G8.

But the reverse is the case.

So it's not true.

 

[Gerrydelasel]

If that was true, then the lightly-regulated system with minimal workers' right in the UK would be more productive than the rest of the G8.
But the reverse is the case.

Eh? Our economy is moderately regulated and employment rights are very high indeed (higher than the EU minimum). Our most productive period was the 19th century when we had low regulation and low rights, which contradicts your claim.

 

[Gerrydelasel]

Why do "comparable" EU countries work shorter hours, have higher incomes, yet are also more productive than us?

Which countries? France is 'comparable' but has more than double the unemployment rate, i.e. UK has more low-skill workers in employment, which drags down our average hourly productivity.

"Parkinson's Law" - work expands to fit the resources available to do it.

Exactly. A culture of short working hours will tend to accomplish the same amount of similar work that a similar culture of longer working hours will accomplish. You can say the former is more efficient, but then, they have to work harder per hour, so maybe flogging themselves while the latter do things more leisurely.

 

[SirGalahad]

Eh? Our economy is moderately regulated and employment rights are very high indeed (higher than the EU minimum). Our most productive period was the 19th century when we had low regulation and low rights, which contradicts your claim.

Can you back that up with some research? Labour is more productive now than in the 19th century. Are you talking about the rate of change of labour productivity?

Also labour productivity and regulation - you are mixing correlation and causation.

Go to any third world country today - it has low or non existent regulation - for example child labour - but are there labour productivy on par with say Norway, UK etc?

 

[SirGalahad]

Which countries? France is 'comparable' but has more than double the unemployment rate, i.e. UK has more low-skill workers in employment, which drags down our average hourly productivity.

Exactly. A culture of short working hours will tend to accomplish the same amount of similar work that a similar culture of longer working hours will accomplish. You can say the former is more efficient, but then, they have to work harder per hour, so maybe flogging themselves while the latter do things more leisurely.

http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DatasetCode=LEVEL

 

[JohnD]

Is Somalia more productive than Sweden?

 

[Gerrydelasel]

Is Somalia more productive than Sweden?

You think more regulation would make Solamila more productive than it currently is?
The two countries are incomporable. Regulation and rights reduces productivity, but for countries that have acheived the momentum of high productivity and wealth, it is a price they can more easily afford to pay. When Somalia becomes as productive as Sweden it too will be able to afford the same regulations.

 

[SirGalahad]

Our most productive period was the 19th century when we had low regulation and low rights, which contradicts your claim.

You think more regulation would make Solamila more productive than it currently is?
The two countries are incomporable. Regulation and rights reduces productivity, but for countries that have acheived the momentum of high productivity and wealth, it is a price they can more easily afford to pay. When Somalia becomes as productive as Sweden it too will be able to afford the same regulations.

You are confusing causation and correlation and simply want to link everything to regulation.

If I can rely on something that is built to meet a regulation or standard then I do not have to spend my own time inspecting it. Ergo increases my productivity.