bcworld

They went up here last month in line with CPI, 3% ish.

A seat? A what? Does not compute. Just getting on is a bonus at the moment.

bcworld

Sounds like that is what UK homeowners are going...finally stopping treating their homes like ATMs.

Mortgage pay-off at a new record

jimbo_d

A lot of that reason is the nature of the work - mining, engineering, trades whereby working contract is the norm over staff

commonwealth

i don't mind working on contract if its $200K a year in the mines

isgraham

It's a shame the day rates in IT are so low in Sydney compared to cost of living.

Turban Explorer

It's also things like retail, office, hospitality etc .. It just means the figures show Australian employment levels as being much better than the real situation.

bcworld

Here's some more:

Pound stronger as services survey shows faster growth

The pound has strengthened against the dollar after figures suggested the UK service sector grew at its fastest pace in more than a year in March.

The Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 57.1, a "marked improvement" on February's 52.6. A figure above 50 indicates expansion.

The market saw the rise as a sign of economic recovery, raising the prospect of an imminent interest rate rise.

Amazulu

Absolutely. People who work permanent when they could contract are fools. Alleged 'job security' and this 'work-life balance' bollocks are are an excuse to pay you less.

I am an uber-contractor!

It would be interesting to see what % of the UK workforce is temp, contract, part-time. Some on BE would have you believe that all UK workers have fantastic permanent jobs with 8 weeks leave, indefinite sick leave and no chance of ever losing them.

moneypenny20

Also many people actually prefer to be casual. If you work x amount of hours a week for a few weeks they have to put you on permanent anyway. I was on Permanent Part time, things got quiet, my hours went down so I had to go on casual. At the end of the year I'll have earned the same as if I was still Permanent.

If you're on casual, and need the employment you're less likely to take a sickie unless you're really sick because you can't afford to. Obviously there are the pot heads and people who are just working to get some money together to travel who don't care. They wouldn't want to be tied down to a contract. For regular workers it makes little difference in the long run.

Turban Explorer

It be possible to command higher rates as a casual contractor in some types of employment but for many not having any employment rights - financial security, sick or holiday pay is a considerable negative.

the troubadour

Unless one is a former South African,of course. Thatcher was seen as more favorable to the cause in the eyes of the former Government.

Son Mark lived quite the high life in Cape Town,until his rather hurried exit from the country after falling foul of the law.
Found that to be a little strange that he got away so lightly, being as it were under the new post apartheid government.
One can only wonder if some form of payment by Thatcher after her personal involvement insured such an outcome.

the troubadour

Thatcher upset a lot of the Torry Party actually. The old school type and Traditionalists.

bcworld

Yup. There was a time the Tories used to do OK in Scotland.

My grandmother was as staunch a Tory as they come...hated Thatcher, but still had to vote for the party of course.

Amazulu

Thatcher was popular there because she showed up the west, UN, commonwealth for their hypocrisy over SA.

Saying that, her treatment of the Zimbabwe/Rhodesia issue was appallling, as it was by Australia, NZ and Canada - a dark chapter in Commonwealth history.

Amazulu

cool