Originally Posted by Giantaxe

Here's the definition. I only scanned it briefly but it looks like they divide your savings by the number of years until you have to make an application for indefinite leave to remain. Then you have to make a fresh application and meet the requirements anew:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/si...df?view=Binary

"An amount based on the cash savings above £16,000 held by the applicant.s partner, the applicant or both jointly for at least the 6 months prior to the date of application and under their control. At the entry clearance/initial leave to remain stage and the further leave stage, the amount above £16,000 must be divided by 2.5 (to reflect the 2.5 year or 30-month period before the applicant will have to make a further application) to give the amount which can be added to income. At the indefinite leave to remain stage, the whole of the amount above £16,000 can be added to income"

Originally Posted by Sally Redux

OK that's interesting. It gives a table under section 7 as to how it works.

Originally Posted by Giantaxe

One thing I didn't realize is that you have to go through the process again after 2.5 years. That means that people whose economic position has deteriorated in that period (unemployment, for example) are in deep shit. It's truly a horrible system.

Originally Posted by bigglesworth

To refresh your memory - UK 73.6 percent labour force participation. USA 63.2 percent. Despite the higher rate of growth in the population.

Originally Posted by bigglesworth

As you very well know, and as I alluded to in my earlier post, the lower rate of unemployment in the USA is entirely due to huge numbers simply stopping looking for work. The only statistic that matters is the number and percentage of people in work.

Originally Posted by bigglesworth

Over the last year, despite the reduction in public sector employment, the total number employed in the UK has risen by 343,000.

Originally Posted by bigglesworth

It seems to me Pug that you are simply voicing an opinion. And a pretty narrow one at that.
I would be interested in seeing the statistics to which you refer. The indices of deprivation to which you refer are relative indices, so would not seem to support your conclusion, in fact, logically, would do the opposite.

There are a couple of points I would make. Firstly, most people on this thread are looking to return to the UK and are interested in the economics of how they survive in the UK. The number in work in the UK is rising, and has done so for several years now. Therefore they are more likely to get a job. (73.6 percent of the population is economically active in the UK. In the USA, for example, the equivalent measure is 63.1 percent.)

Pay levels - Broadly, job losses have mainly been in the public sector, (about 400 thousand) and job creation in the private (about 1Million). As the public sector is paid more than the private sector, average pay will necessarily decline – which it has. However, the Government has reduced substantially the tax levied in the lower paid, as a result of which , real take home pay has fallen in just the one year since the Coalition took office.

Real take home pay in the UK remains the third highest in the developed world according to the latest OECD survey, far ahead of the USA, Australia or even Germany.

Perhaps the thread ought to be renamed "Is the situation in the UK really that good".

Originally Posted by chris955

Unemployment in the UK is well below the Eurozone average and continuing to trend down.

Originally Posted by roaringmouse

Meaning UK has unemployment above a number of countries in the Eurozone. Let's see what some of these unemployment rates are:

Austria 4.8%
Germany 5.3%
Luxembourg 5.7%
Malta 6%
Netherlands 7%

Outside of the Eurozone, but still in the EU we have:

Denmark 6.7%
Czech Republic 6.8%
Romania 7.5%

Outside of the EU, but still in the EEA we also have:

Iceland 5.5%

The 7.7% in the UK is not good by itself, it's also not good when looking at quite a few other nearby countries.

(figures taken from eurostat)

Originally Posted by roaringmouse

Meaning UK has unemployment above a number of countries in the Eurozone. Let's see what some of these unemployment rates are:

Austria 4.8%
Germany 5.3%
Luxembourg 5.7%
Malta 6%
Netherlands 7%

Outside of the Eurozone, but still in the EU we have:

Denmark 6.7%
Czech Republic 6.8%
Romania 7.5%

Outside of the EU, but still in the EEA we also have:

Iceland 5.5%

The 7.7% in the UK is not good by itself, it's also not good when looking at quite a few other nearby countries.

(figures taken from eurostat)

Originally Posted by roaringmouse

Meaning UK has unemployment above a number of countries in the Eurozone. Let's see what some of these unemployment rates are:

Austria 4.8%
Germany 5.3%
Luxembourg 5.7%
Malta 6%
Netherlands 7%

Outside of the Eurozone, but still in the EU we have:

Denmark 6.7%
Czech Republic 6.8%
Romania 7.5%

Outside of the EU, but still in the EEA we also have:

Iceland 5.5%

The 7.7% in the UK is not good by itself, it's also not good when looking at quite a few other nearby countries.

(figures taken from eurostat)

Originally Posted by Sally Redux

I have completely lost track of what you're trying to prove.

I wouldn't organize my life on the basis of looking at the above figures and thinking, "Oh, Iceland or Malta are going to be the best places to live."

A certain kind of person just has to get the boot into the UK at little or no provocation, I don't understand it all all, we as a nation have always been a bit like that but it's got massively worse in my lifetime.

Originally Posted by robin1234

I believe he's in an obscure, kabuki theatre feud with another member who is posting in this thread but I have no idea what the underlying issue is.

Me, I would like to move back to England and the issues I need to overcome to achieve this have little to do with macroeconomic facts or fictions.

Originally Posted by Editha

Well obviously I've butted into a private conversation then. My apologies, and for the weird bug that is posting everything from me twice.

I had not noticed that the unemployment figures Roaringmouse quotes are attributed by him to Eurostat, and asked him if they were Wikipedia. I've checked the Eurostat figures, which only go up to the end of 2012, and they don't correspond to his figures either.